CELEBRATE ONE CITY, ONE STORY
PASADENA, Calif. — Chosen from a field of compelling nominees, the book selection for Pasadena’s 14th One City, One Story community reading celebration is Orphan Train by author Christina Baker Kline. The New York Times bestseller has sparked an intriguing blend of book talks, art and writing contests, films, lectures and other activities throughout March, encouraging the community to join in conversation about the book. All events are free and open to the public.
ABOUT THE NOVEL
Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying 
As a young Irish immigrant, Orphan Train’s central character Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past.
Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past.
Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances and unexpected friendship.
AUTHOR EVENT
Author Christina Baker Kline will join Pasadena Public Library Director Jan Sanders in conversation to discuss her experiences writing Orphan Train. A question and answer session with the audience will immediately follow.
Thursday, March 31, 7 p.m.
Pasadena Central Library’ Donald Wright Auditorium, 285 E. Walnut St.
Event parking is available in the library parking lot and surrounding parking facilities.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
• Discussion - Creating Families Today: A Conversation with Local Social Service Agencies
Representatives from Five Acres, Hathaway-Sycamores and Hillsides will join Library Director Jan
Sanders in conversation, sharing information on the history of their agencies, what they are doing
today and how the community can support them now and in the future.
Thursday, March 3, Central Library, 285 E. Walnut St.
6 p.m. • Reception • West Patio
7 p.m. • Panel discussion followed by Q & A • Donald Wright Auditorium
6 – 9 p.m. • Social service agencies information displays
• Family Activity - One Year Road Trip: Driving a Generation of Generosity
The Webb Family presents lively and inspiring stories, videos and reflections from their One Year
Road Trip: Generation of Generosity project. Learn about life on the road, young change-makers
who are impacting foster children across America, and how questions posed in the novel Orphan
Train permeated their life on the road.
Thursday, March 10, 7 p.m., Central Library/Donald Wright Auditorium, 285 E. Walnut St.
• Family Activity - One City, One Story Day
• Model train display
• Author Eve Bunting reads her book, Train to Somewhere
• The Orphan Trains, A Documentary (2006)
• Author William Bradley discusses his book: Los Angeles Union Station: Tracks to the Future
• Train sing-a-long led by Theatre Americana
Saturday, March 12, 1-5 p.m., Central Library,285 E. Walnut St.
• Workshop - QuickLook: Adoption
Introduction to Electronic Resources
LA Law Library’s Austin Stoub presents an overview of adoption law, regulations, cases and
other legal information available from LA Law Library’s Law Portal, a collection of electronic legal
research databases.
Thursday, March 17,1 p.m., Central Library/Law Room . 285 E. Walnut St.
• Lecture - Pasadena in the 1920s
Christine Lofstedt wrote a master’s thesis in 1922 on “A Study of the Mexican Population in
Pasadena,” covering the reasons for migration, housing conditions and musical preferences of nearly
all of the Mexican and Mexican-American residents. Roberta H. Martínez shares stories of what it
was like in Pasadena in the early 1900s, during Lofstedt’s studies and when Vivian Daly rode the
Orphan Train.
Thursday, March 17, 7 p.m., Central Library/Donald Wright Auditorium,• 285 E. Walnut St.
• Lecture - Volunteering Today: You Can Make a Difference - Find Out How!
Orphan trains transported more than 200,000 orphaned, homeless children in hopes of finding a
better life for them. The Children’s Aid Society tried to help, but the task was overwhelming. Today
Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) addresses orphaned children’s needs.
Learn more about CASA and how you can make a difference in the life of a child.
Saturday, March 19, 1 p.m., Hastings Branch Library, 3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd.
• Workshop/Family Activity - Celebrating Writers, Artists & Authors
• Write Your Own One City, One Story writing workshop
• Announcement of the 2016 One City, One Story Art & Writing Contest winners
• Readings by writing contest winners
• Reception and conversation
Saturday, March 19, 1–5 p.m., Central Library/Donald Wright Auditorium, 285 E. Walnut St.
• Family Activity - Classic Games + Old-Fashioned Toys = Barrels of Wholesome Fun!
Put down those iPads and other electronic devices and relive fun with classic games that never lose
their appeal and never go out of style! Ages 7+.
Tuesday, March 22, 3 p.m., San Rafael Branch Library, 1240 Nithsdale Road
• Family Activity - Making Good – Against All Odds
Flights of Fantasy Story Theatre weaves a theatrical tapestry of folktales and fables as they illustrate
the many creative ways children can overcome adversity and succeed in life. Enjoy this whimsical look
at the human experience told through engaging interactive storytelling. For all ages.
Thursday, March 24, 1 p.m., La Pintoresca Branch Library,1355 N. Raymond Ave.
Thursday, March 24, 3:30 p.m., Santa Catalina Branch Library, 999 E. Washington Blvd.
ART & WRITING CONTESTS
• Art Contest
Pasadena children and teens in grades 3 - 12 are invited to submit their original artwork for the One
City, One Story Art Contest. This contest is co-sponsored by Art Center College of Design.
Contest guidelines:
• Single-frame illustration in pencil, pen, ink or paint depicting the theme of memories, childhood or
trains
• Size can range from 8” x 10” to 22” x 28”
- May be submitted to any Pasadena Public Library site
- Entries will be judged based on creativity, technical skill and execution
Entry deadline: Thursday, March 10
• Writing Contest: “A Vivid Memory”
Pasadena children and teens in grades 3 – 12 are invited to submit their original short story
about a vivid memory from their past or explore the topic of childhood memories, true or fictionalized.
Contest Guidelines:
• Stories must be 200-1000 words, writer’s choice, and must be legibly hand-written or typed
• Stories must be original and the writer’s own work
• All entries must be accompanied by a completed application form libraries
• Stories may be submitted to any Pasadena Public Library site or emailed to Jane Gov at
jgov@cityofpasadena.net
Entry deadline: Thursday, March 10
Art and Writing Contest forms are available at www.pasadenapubliclibrary.net or can be picked up at any Pasadena Public Library.
Community Book Discussions
Tuesday, March 1, 6:30 p.m. Hastings Branch Library
3325 E. Orange Grove Blvd.
Saturday, March 5, 11 a.m. Santa Catalina Branch Library
999 E. Washington Blvd.
Saturday, March 12, 10:30 a.m. Allendale Branch Library
1130 S. Marengo Ave.
Saturday, March 12, 10:30 a.m. Hill Avenue Branch Library
55 S. Hill Avenue
Saturday, March 12, 11 a.m. Linda Vista Branch Library
1281 Bryant St.
Monday, March 14, 6 p.m. YA Book Club
Central Library, Teen Central
285 E. Walnut St.
Saturday, March 19, 11 a.m. La Pintoresca Branch Library
1355 N. Raymond Ave.
Monday, March 21, 11 a.m. Lamanda Park Branch Library
140 S. Altadena Dr.
FILM SERIES
The March film selections complement and expand on the themes of the One City, One Story selection, Orphan Train.
Central Library/Donald Wright Auditorium • 285 E. Walnut St.
Wednesdays • 1 p.m.
Presented by The Friends of The Pasadena Public Library
The film will be cancelled if The Friends of the Library volunteers are unable to show the movie.
March 2 • Orphan Train (1979) G
March 9 • The Cider House Rules (1999) PG-13
March 16 • Penny Serenade (1941) G
March 23 • Oliver (1968) G
March 30 • Philomena (2013) PG-13 & The Orphan Trains, A Documentary, presented by American Experience, narrated by Stacy Keach (2006)
Pasadena Public Library’s annual One City, One Story program is designed to broaden and deepen an appreciation of reading and literature in the community, engage participants in dialogue and bring Pasadenans together by promoting greater understanding of differing points of view. The novel is available for check-out at all Pasadena public libraries and for sale at local bookstores.
For more information, visit www.onecityonestory.com or call (626) 744-7076.
CELEBRATE PASADENA’S ONE CITY, ONE STORY
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION WITH CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE,
AUTHOR OF THE 2016 SELECTION “oRPHAN TRAIN”
PASADENA, Calif. — To celebrate the 14th year of Pasadena’s One City, One Story community reading project, the public is invited to a 
Library Director Jan Sanders will moderate the discussion, which will include questions from the audience. Attendees are encouraged to bring their copies of Orphan Train for the author to sign following the discussion. The event is free and open to the public. Event parking is available in the library parking lot and surrounding parking facilities.
Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by chance. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or face hard labor and servitude?
As a young Irish immigrant, Orphan Train’s central character Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past.
Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community-service position helping an elderly widow clean out her attic is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past.
Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances and unexpected friendship.
Christina Baker Kline is the author of five novels, including the #1 New York Times bestselling Orphan Train. Her other novels include Bird in Hand, The Way Life Should Be, Desire Lines and Sweet Water. She is currently at work on a novel based on the iconic painting Christina's World, by Andrew Wyeth.
Kline has also written and edited five nonfiction books, and she commissioned and edited two widely praised collections of original essays on the first year of parenthood and raising young children, Child of Mine and Room to Grow, as well as a book on grieving, Always Too Soon. She is the co-editor, with Anne Burt, of a collection of personal essays called About Face: Women Write About What They See When They Look in the Mirror, and is co-author, with her mother, Christina Looper Baker, of a book on feminist mothers and daughters, The Conversation Begins. Her essays, articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Money, More and Psychology Today, among other publications.
Born in Cambridge, England, Kline was raised there as well as in the American South and Maine. She is a graduate of Yale, Cambridge and the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow in Fiction Writing. She has taught fiction and nonfiction writing, poetry, English literature, literary theory and women’s studies at Yale, NYU and Drew University, and served as Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University for four years. She is a recipient of several Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowships and Writer-in-Residence Fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She supports a number of libraries and other associations in New Jersey and Maine, and is a member of the Advisory Board for Roots & Wings, a nonprofit that provides support for at-risk adolescent and aged-out foster care youth.
Kline lives in an old house in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband, David Kline, and three sons, Hayden, Will and Eli. She spends as much time as possible in an even older house in Southwest Harbor, Maine.
Pasadena Public Library’s annual One City, One Story program is designed to broaden and deepen an appreciation of reading in Pasadena by engaging the community in dialog around a single literary work. For more information on this year’s One City, One Story activities, visit www.onecityonestory.com or call (626) 744-7076.