Fans of the Orphan Train Quartet will be delighted that Nixon is continuing the story of the Kelly family in a new series, the Orphan Train Adventures. In 1861, 12-year-old Mike Kelly and his friend Todd Blakely run away and join the Second Kansas Infantry. They're too young to fight, but they're old enough to be drummers and are convinced the Union forces need them. Their first engagement, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, is a bloody rout. Todd is fatally wounded, and Mike is left for dead. Rescued by a rebel soldier who's a friend from the Orphan Train, Mike is tended by a sympathetic family. Before he can rejoin his unit, however, he must make his way back through enemy territory and fulfill a promise made to Todd. Nixon's story is an action-packed, realistic adventure. Through Mike's eyes, readers view the alternating boredom and sheer terror of war, the effects of war on civilians, and the factors that divided families as well as the country. There's also a tantalizing hint about what Kelly faces in the next adventure.