Best-selling classic series!
This
series begins with the book titled "The Boxcar Children", which
introduces the Alden children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, age 14 to 6,
who after their parents’ death become orphans and run away from their
grandfather, whom they've never met but believe to be cruel. Their goal is to
stay together. The Alden begin their adventure by making a home in a boxcar. In
the first book they eschew school for a life picking cherries and finding old
dishes in a garbage dump. As the author bio pasted in the back of some of the
books notes, Warner “liked to dress the Alden’s’ independence and
resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making
do.” The book ends happily when the children are reunited with their grandfather,
who turns out to be a kind and wealthy gentleman. The children decide to live
with the grandfather in his manor. Secretly he moves the beloved boxcar to his
backyard so the children can use it as a playhouse. Each subsequent novel in
the series revolves around a different mystery the four Alden children solve.
These books are written for beginning readers with basic sentence structures
and vocabulary. Though not deep, these plot-driven mysteries hold the reader's
interest. The characters are appealing and
realistic. Solid values shine through each novel: hard work, respect for family
values, and having fun.
Gertrude ChandlerWarner, an elementary school teacher, wrote the first 19 of the books before
her death in 1979. Other books in the series have been written by other
writers, but always feature the byline "Created by Gertrude Chandler
Warner". When writing a series Mrs. Warner used the 500 most common words to
kept plots simple. Warner’s books are about old-world topics like houseboat
trips and whatever a “caboose mystery” is. In the subsequent books, the
children encounter many adventures and mysteries in their neighborhood or at
the locations they visit with their grandfather. The majority of the books are
set in locations the children are visiting over school holidays such as summer
vacation or Christmas break. The recent books in the series are set in the
present day, whereas most of the original books were set in the 1920s and
1930s. To date, there have been about 150 books in the series.
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