Orphan at My Door, written by Jean Little

Jean Little

Jean Little is a Canadian author born on January 2, 1932. Her work has mainly consisted of children's literature, but she has also written two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. Little has been partially blind since birth as a result of scars on her cornea and is...

, is the first book in the Dear Canada

Dear Canada

Dear Canada is a series of historical novels for older girls first published starting in 2001 to the present by Scholastic Canada Ltd. They are similar to the Dear America series, each book is written in the form of the diary of a fictional young woman living during an important event in Canadian...

series of novels written by various artists. The book is a diary about a fictional character named Victoria. There is an epilogue

Epilogue

An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...

, historical note and some black and white pictures in the back of the book. There is also an "About the Author" at the very back. It is suggested that Jean Little is the creator of Dear Canada because was the one that wrote the first book in the series, but truly, the creator of Dear Canada is unknown.

Orphan at My Door was first printed and released in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 during September 2001 by Scholastic Canada Ltd. Orphan at My Door is only to be printed in the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

and in Canada.

Plot

The book tells the story of Victoria Cope, following her experience of hosting a home child - an orphan from England sent to Canada by Barnardo's, essentially as a servant, receiving care and education in exchange. The Copes end up with a girl Victoria's age, named Marianna Wilson. She tells Victoria about her life in England, and as they become friends Victoria becomes more aware of some of the discrimination that Marianna faces from the local children, as well as from members of Victoria's own family, notably her oldest brother, David.

Something seems to be distracting Marianna and one night Victoria wakes up and finds Marianna in the barn with her younger brother, Jasper, who had escaped from the home where he was placed after his guardian whipped him and broke his arm. The family must decide what to do with Jasper, which is made difficult by David's attitude towards the home children. The book ends with an epilogue detailing where Marianna and Victoria went in their lives, and explaining how the home child program worked.