Annie JR/Kids

It is early December 1933, shortly after three a.m.. In the New York City Municipal Orphanage, the littlest orphan, Molly (age 6), cries out for her mother. The other orphans in the room -- Kate, the next to littlest, who is 7; Tessie, the cry baby, who is 10; Pepper, the toughest, who is 12; July, the quietest, who is 13; and Duffy, the biggest, who is 13 -- wake up and a fight ensues between Pepper and July. Annie, who is 11, has been up cleaning and breaks up the fight. She comforts Molly with the note that her parents left her when she was left at the orphanage. It says that she was “born on October 28th. We will be back to get her soon. We have left half of a silver locket around her neck and kept the other half so that when we come back for her you will know that she’s our baby.” Molly tells Annie that she dreams of having parents again but that Annie is lucky because she really has parents (“Maybe”).

As a far-away church bell chimes 4:00 a.m., Annie decides that she will make