The Boxcar Children From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Boxcar Children is a children's literary franchise originally

created and wr itten by American writer and first-grade school teacher,[1] Gertrude Chandler Wa rner. Today, the series includes well over 100 titles. The series is aimed at re aders in grades 2-6.[2] The Box-Car Children-1924.jpg Originally published in 1924 by Rand McNally and reissued in 1942 by Albert Whit man & Company,[3] the novel The Boxcar Children tells the story of four orphaned children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. They create a home for themselves i n an abandoned boxcar in the forest. They eventually meet their grandfather, who is a wealthy and kind man (although the children had believed him to be cruel). The children decide to live with the grandfather, who moves the beloved boxcar to his backyard so the children can use it as a playhouse. Based on a 2007 onlin e poll, the National Education Association named the original book one of its "T eachers' Top 100 Books for Children."[4] The original book was one of the "Top 1 00 Chapter Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal.[5] In the subsequent books, the children encounter many adventures and mysteries in their neighborhood or at the locations they visit with their grandfather. The m ajority of the books are set in locations the children are visiting over school holidays such as summer vacation or Christmas break. Only the first 19 stories w ere written by creator Warner. Other books in the series have been written by ot her writers, but always feature the byline "Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner" . 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. Contents [hide] 1 Plot summary of the original novel 2 Characters 2.1 Main characters 2.2 Secondary characters 3 Series 4 About the author 5 List of Boxcar Children novels 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Plot summary of the original novel[edit] The 1942 version of the original Boxcar Children (upon which current printings a re based) tells the story of the four Alden children: Henry, Jessie, Violet, es are pleasant and full of hard work until Violet becomes ill and they go to Dr. M oore for assistance. Earlier in the novel, Dr. Moore read in the newspaper that a man named James Hen ry Alden was offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who located his four lost grand children. They had run away because they thought he was cruel. After Dr. Moore t akes the sick Violet and the other children to his house, he finally contacts Ja mes. He arrives at Dr. Moore's house. Not wanting to frighten the children into running away again, he referred to himself as Mr. Henry. Not knowing that he was their "cruel" grandfather, the children warm to his kindness and are surprised but delighted when Dr. Moore reveals to them that he is their grandfather. Aft Characters[edit] Main characters[edit] Henry James Alden: is the oldest of the Alden children; in most books of the ser ies, Henry is 14 years old. In Warner's original books Henry ages and eventually goes off to college in The Lighthouse Mystery. Henry is very intelligent, and h is great abundance of knowledge becomes useful in many of the children's cases. He is the leader of the crew. In later books, Henry's age reverts to 14, the age he was in the first book. Jessica "Jessie" Alden: is usually 12 years old and is the oldest sister. She of

ten acts motherly towards Benny and Violet and even Henry. She is often responsi ble for cooking. Jessie is described as being very tidy and organized. She is so metimes called Jess but is mostly referred to as Jessie. She is not afraid of an ything, adores the color blue, and is very strong. Violet Alden: is 10 years old in most of the books. She is the most sensitive of the children and is skillful at painting and sewing. She can frequently win ove r grouchy characters and is good with animals. Violet is often very shy and love s playing the violin. Of course, her favorite color is violet or purple and she always wears one of those colors. She is the shyest of all the children. Benjamin "Benny" Alden: is the youngest child at 6 years old. He celebrates his birthday in Surprise Island. Benny is known for his love of all food and the cra cked pink cup he found in the dump. His endearingly childish qualities and comme nts make him a favorite amongst young readers. He is very talkative. Watch: is the dog of the Boxcar children. He acted as a "watchdog" when they liv ed in the boxcar and protected them. Watch was originally owned by a wealthy lad y but ran away and was adopted by the Alden children. The lady was so charmed by the children that she permitted them to keep him. Watch is an Airedale Terrier, and the children found him while Henry was away one day at work. He had a thorn in his paw, and Jessie removed it. Because of this, he became known as her dog. In subsequent books, Watch's bed is in Jessie's bedroom. James Henry Alden: is the wealthy and kind grandfather of the Alden children, al lowing them a lot of freedom and always offering them advice. He takes care of t he kids after the death of their parents. Dr. Moore: is the man who gave Henry a job and checked Violet when she was ill. Secondary characters[edit] Soo Lee: She is the cousin of the boxcar children. Mrs. McGregor: The Aldens' housekeeper. Her husband was first seen in the third book of the series. Mike: Mike is Benny's best friend and appeared on Surprise Island. Joe and Alice: The children's cousins/aunt and uncle. (Called both, but mostly c ousins) Joe was first seen in the second book of the series, Surprise Island. Al ice was first introduced in The Yellow House Mystery; she also married Joe in sa me book. They moved to a new house in the Mystery of the Singing Ghost. They ado pted Soo Lee from Korea. Aunt Jane and Uncle Andy: The children's great aunt (Grandfather Alden's sister) and her husband. Aunt Jane was once unkind, but was changed in Mystery Ranch, t he fourth book of the series. John Carter: An employee of the children's grandfather. Does investigation and c arries out the children's grandfather's wishes "off camera". Series[edit] The series involves the children solving various mysteries and occasionally trav eling to other locations as they do so. After the first novel, the children beco me amateur sleuths. They stumble across a mystery no matter where they are, whet her on vacation or in their own backyard. They usually solve the mystery with ve ry little adult intervention, although adults are present in the novel (the auth or said she wrote about mostly-unsupervised children because that would appeal t o children). Some of the mysteries border on the supernatural, although the prac tical Henry and Jessie always find the practical reason for anything that appear s other-worldy. Most of the mysteries involve thefts and usually involve the Ald en children helping someone they know. The series are divided into mysteries and specials; all of the specials were wri tten after Warner's death. As of 2013, there are 135 mysteries and 21 specials i n the series.[6] About the author[edit] Warner's life was chronicled in the biography "Gertrude Chandler Warner and the Boxcar Children"[7] by Mary Ellen Ellsworth, illustrated by Marie DeJohn, which tells the story of Warner's childhood living across the street from the railroad tracks, her bouts with poor health, her teaching career, her earliest attempts

at writing, and her inspiration for The Boxcar Children.[8] In July 2004, a museum in Putnam, Connecticut, was opened in a red boxcar to hon or Gertrude Warner and the Boxcar Children series. She is buried in Grove Street Cemetery, Putnam, Connecticut. As she wrote the story, Warner read it to her classes and rewrote it many times so the words were easy to understand. Some of her pupils spoke other languages a t home and were just learning English, so The Boxcar Children gave them a fun st ory that was easy to read. Warner once wrote that the original book "raised a st orm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a t ime without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it!" List of Boxcar Children novels[edit] Main article: List of Boxcar Children books See also[edit] Portal icon Novels portal Gertrude Chandler Warner List of Boxcar Children books References[edit] Jump up ^ "About Gertrude Chandler Warner". Retrieved 2008-03-06. Jump up ^ Boxcar Reading Levels Jump up ^ http://www.boxcarchildren.com Jump up ^ National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Ch ildren". Retrieved August 19, 2012. Jump up ^ Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". S chool Library Journal "A Fuse #8 Production" blog. Retrieved August 19, 2012. Jump up ^ http://www.boxcarchildren.com/content.cfm/boxcar-children-category-boo k-display?bookCategoryId=571&start=121 Jump up ^ "Gertrude Chandler Warner and the Boxcar Children at Albert Whitman & Company". Retrieved 2009-07-01. Jump up ^ "Children's Notes, Boxcar Children Redux". Retrieved 2008-03-06.[dead link] External links[edit] The Box-Car Children (Gutenberg.org site) [hide] v t e Juvenile Series books (19301979) Girls' books Beverly Gray (19341955) Cherry Ames (19431968) Connie Blair (19481956) Dana Girls ( 19341979) Ginny Gordon (19481956) Judy Bolton (19321967) Kay Tracey (19341942) Nancy Drew (original series, 19301979) Penny Parker (19391947) Sue Barton (19361952) Tri xie Belden (19481986) Vicki Barr (19471967) Tom Swift Jr series Boys' books Biff Brewster (19601965) Brains Benton (19591961) Bronc Burnett (19481967) Christop her Cool (19671969) Danny Dunn (19561977) Chip Hilton (19481965) The Hardy Boys (19 271979) Ken Holt (19491963) Power Boys (19641967) Rick Brant (19471968) Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (19521956) Tom Quest (19471955) Tom Swift, Jr. (19541971) Categories: American children's novelsNovel seriesNovels about orphansSeries of children's books Navigation menu Create accountLog inArticleTalkReadEditView history Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia

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