Christina Baker Kline wrote Orphan Train when the protagonist, Molly Ayers, is in high school. In Orphan Train Girl, Molly is in middle school. Orphan Train Girl is primarily from Molly's point of view and is written primarily for adolescents.

Orphan trains were the brainchild of Charles Loring Brace, a minister who was troubled by the large number of homeless and impoverished children in New York. A massive influx of new immigrants had crowded the city, and a series of financial panics and depressions in the late 19th century created unemployment.

Vivian is a 91-year-old who has a hidden past as an orphan train rider and Molly is a troubled teen with one last chance to make things right.

Kline's book is fictional, but it's based on the very true history of thousands of children shipped to the Midwest. Kline joins NPR's Rachel Martin to discuss the history of the trains, how young girls were often passed over by families and the most surprising fact she learned from train riders.