In winning a medal she is no longer there to receive, a tight-lipped little Polish girl teaches her classmates a lesson. Includes a note from the author's daughter, Helena Estes.

Having left Poland and braved ocean storms to join her father in America, Krysia arrives at Ellis Island on Christmas Eve.

"Subir a este tren no había sido idea mía. Yo quería ir a casa. Pero ya no tenía casa a la que ir, excepto el Refugio para Pequeños Vagabundos, y ellos me enviaban lejos para vendida como esclava..."--Cubierta. A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and a life of unpaid slavery.