SYNOPSIS

Roberta ( Bobbie), Peter and Phyllis lived in London with their loving parents. They
were happy and contented. One day, two strangers came to their house and took
their father away. After this sudden event, the children and their mother moved to a
small house in the country. There was a railway line near their new house. The
children became friends with the people who worked at the railway. They enjoyed
waving to the passengers on the 9.15am train. An old gentleman who travelled on
the train always waved back at them. This gentleman became their friend. The
children had several adventures with the railway. They stopped the train when a
landslide covered the tracks. They also saved a boy who was hurt in the train tunnel.
The children often thought of their father . Then Roberta ( Bobbie ) found out why
their father was taken away. She wrote to the old gentleman for help. With his help,
their father finally returned to the family.
Character : Roberta @ Bobbie

1.Responsible
Evidence: She takes charge and gets her siblings to think of a way to get their
mother the things the doctor said she must have when she is ill.

2.Brave
Evidence: She runs onto the railway track to stop the train when a landslide covers
the railway line.

3.Determined
Evidence: She is determined to get help so that she can help her father who is in
jail. She tells the old gentleman about him and with the gentlemans help, her father
finally returns to the family.
Themes
1.The importance of family love

Bobbie and her siblings have loving parents. After their father is taken away,
Mother is very sad but she does not tell the children and the children do not ask
questions so that their mother will not be upset.

The children always work together to solve problems, for example when their
mother is ill and needs special food and when they have to save the train.
2 .Facing lifes challenges with courage

The children and their mother face problems bravely. Mother does not show how
sad she is and works hard to provide for the children.

When a landslide covers the railway tracks, the children act with courage to save
the train from a terrible accident.
Moral Values
We learn about:
1. Family love and loyalty
The children show their love for their mother by not asking questions about
their father. They are loyal to their father and never forget him.

2.

Kindness and compassion

The station master lets Peter go when he learns that the family is too poor to
buy coal.
3.

Bravery
The children are brave to confess that they have taken the coal and they also
tell their mother
that they asked a stranger to get the things the doctor asked
them to get for her.
Based on " THE RAILWAY CHILDREN " by EDITH NESBIT, write about the synopsis
of the novel.
ROBERTA ( also known as BOBBIE ), PETER, PHYLLIS lived a comfortable
home in London with a wonderful mother and father as well as a maid.
One day, their father left home with two men. He was actually taken away to
prison but the children did not know this at first. When he left and did not come back,
they had to move to a poor cottage in the country (rural area) near a railway station.
The children became familiar with the passing trains, the workers at the train station
and signal-box, and life in a small town while their mother struggled to make ends
meet by writing stories.
They learnt to live with what little they had and they got used to be poor. They also
learnt not a steal coal from the railway station; even they had so little to keep warm.
They had various adventures - stopping a train when a landside covered, the tracks ,
finding an injured boy in the train tunnel and getting help, while dealing with the
mystery of their father disappearance. Sometimes they argued and had crises , but in
the time they made many new friend.
They also experienced amusing adventures aplenty which happened near the
railway and the canal. The children develop the habits of waving to the train as it
went past and sometimes the people in the coaches waved back. Their friendly
gestures forged a special friendly with one person in particular, who went by in the
train. He eventually got to know them, and helped them out in various ways. Then,
one day a train called at the station and the children were pleasantly surprised to see
their father. They were finally re-united.

Based on " THE RAILWAY CHILDREN " by EDITH NESBIT, write about the place
that you like the most in the novel.
The novel that i chosen is " The Railway Children " by EDITH NESBIT. The
place that i like the most in the story is the railway station. There are many interesting
things there.
Besides the shinning railway lines, telegraph wires and signals, seeing trains that
use coal for their engines is really interesting.
It is also fascinating to see the railway leading towards the ' dark opening of the
tunnel '. This is because when the railway lines begin ' to shake ' a train will come '

screaming out of the tunnel '. According to BOOBIE, when the train is gone, it is ' like
a great wild animal going by '.
Just like BOOBIE, PETER and PHYLLIS, I like this place as it is their place of '
hope '. This is the place where the 9.15 train went to London. They believed that this
train was a magic train and it send their love to their father.
The railway station and the lines that lead to it made this the most interesting
place for children. I wish I can be there with them to experience all the adventures
around the railway children.
Based on 'The Railway Children' by Edith Nesbit, the character I admire is PETER.
PETER is only 10 years but he has many positive qualities. We see these qualities in
what he says and does.

PETER clever and quick to stop the 11.29 train from crashing into a landslide. He
cuts his sister red petticoats into six pieces. Then, he and his sister make six flags
with them and some sticks. They wave the flags and stop the train. They save the
train and its passengers.
PETER also observant and confident that many people in the village will give
PERKS presents because he is nice to everybody. He plans to give PERKS, the
porter at the station, a nice birthday. He has a clever idea to collect presents from the
village for PERKS. The children collect the present and give them to PERKS.
Because of PETERS kindness and clever idea, PERKS has the best birthday and
the best birthday presents in his life. He is very happy.
I admire PETER because he is alert and brave too. For examples, during a paperchase, JIM, the old gentlemans grandson does not come out of the tunnel for a long
time. PETER says that JIM is in danger and goes into the dark and dangerous tunnel
to look for him with his sisters.
PETER is also like a scout. He has things like a candle, penknife and matches
with him. They are useful in the tunnel. The children find JIM beside the railway lines.
He has broken his leg. BOBBIE cuts his boot with the penknife. Then PETER and
PHYLLIS get some farm workers to carry JIM to their house.
One more reason I admire PETER is because he is brave to steal coal to keep the
family warm. When Station Master catches PETER, he tells him that his sisters do
not know anything about the coal to save them. He is mature and protective of them.
He does not want them to get into trouble. He wants to be responsible for his action
himself.
I admire PETER because he has many positive qualities.
Based on " THE RAILWAY CHILDREN " by EDITH NESBIT, write about the moral
values of the novel.

The moral values responsibility is highlighted in the novel " The Railway Children
". The story concerns a family who fell upon hard times after the father was taken
away for being spy. Forced to move to a small house in the country, the family unit
was held together by the childrens mother. She earned a living by writing stories to
sell to magazines.
She is a responsible person. When they became poor, she worked hard to make
ends meet to look after the welfare of her children. If spite of a difficult life, she put up
a brave front and did not neglect her children. She was able to shoulder the sole
responsibility of caring for them. She provided them with basic needs such as food
and clothing.
The childrens mother is also responsible in looking after JIM, the grandson of the
old gentleman. JIM took part in a paper-chase game and broke his leg while running
in a tunnel. The childrens mother let him stay at her house to recuperate. She was
willing to care for him.

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN-SETTINGS

There are 3 types of settings in this novel :Place, Social, Cultural
Place
House in London
The cottage in the country side
The railway station
The railway tunnel
The village
Social
Edwardian Type of Clothes
Coal used for steam engine trains
Cultural
Having tea
High hats and long coats

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN - Themes

1.The Importance Of A Family - The family bond between the characters in this novel
is very strong. For example, in chapter 1, mother was always at home spending time
with the children. She played with them and read stories to them. Mother also read
stories which she wrote to them after tea. Moreover, the children had a wonderful
father who was never angry, and was always ready to play a game with them.The
children loved their father and never forgot him though they never talked much about
him. Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis were always together be it at the railway line, the
railway station and even when they collected gifts for Perks.

2.Hope and Optimism - The children's father was always optimistic that things
would be fine.For example, when Peter showed him his broken toy steam engine,
father looked at it and optimistically assured Peter that he would mend it.Bobbie had
high hopes that the old gentleman would be able to help her to seek the truth about
her father's innocence. The old gentleman helped Bobbie in her quest because he
had hopes that her father was innocent.
3.Bravery - Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis are brave children. They risked their lives to
stop a train from accident. Peter and Phyllis waved their flags by standing along the
railway line while Bobbie ran on to the line waving her flags. The children aslo
showed bravery when they entered the dark tunnel to look for the boy in the red
shirt.Mother stayed calm and brave for the chlidren's sake while her husband was
away in prison.