The Boxcar Children
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The Boxcar Children is a popular book series by American writer Gertrude Chandler Warner; it is also the title of the first book in the series. It was originally published in 1942.
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[edit] The Story
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The first book told the story of four orphans: Henry Alden, 14; Jessie Alden, 12; Violet Alden, 10; and Benny Alden, 6. They were to live with their grandfather, but were afraid, believing him to be a very mean man. Because of this, they find an abandoned boxcar to settle in instead. Within the first book, they meet a man named Dr. Moore, living in Silver City (Possibly Taunton, Massachusetts, sometimes being nicknamed Silver City.) who hires Henry to do odd jobs. The Aldens use Henry's earnings and their own resourcefulness to take care of themselves, and turn the boxcar into a home, with a shelf, dishes, and even a toy bear for Benny. All this changes when Violet Alden becomes sick. They go to Dr. Moore for assistance; However, as he saw in the newspaper, a man named James Alden was looking for four children, and would give $5,000 to anyone who finds them. At this moment, Dr. Moore became excited, and called Mr. Alden to come to his house, and he came at the same time the four children came in with a sick Violet. He disguised himself as Mr. Henry, as Henry was his middle name. The children all liked him. Soon, Dr. Moore revealed to them that Mr. Henry was their rich grandfather (James Henry Alden), who had been looking for them. The children were surprised to find that this kind man was their supposedly mean old grandfather. The children left their boxcar to live with him in Greenfield, Massachusetts (some books in the series say Greenfield, Connecticut when there is no such thing). Days later, when Violet was better, the four children were asked to go to Dr. Moore. When they got back, a surprise lay in the backyard; Mr. Alden had brought the boxcar to his backyard because they missed it. Throughout the rest of the books thereafter, the children uncover and solve various mysteries, often while traveling.
[edit] About the author
Warner wrote the first 19 books in the series, and when she died, the series was maintained by a variety of authors. It is still in production today, by Albert Whitman & Co., 27 years after her death. Before her death, she received a large number of letters asking her for more books in the series. Each book written since her death still has the byline "Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner" on its cover.
The series are divided into mysteries and specials; all of the specials were written after Warner's death. However, the books written after Gertrude Warner's death have suffered from numerous continuity problems -- for example, the ages and abilities of the major characters have fluctuated throughout the series. In the books written by Chandler, the children steadily aged; Henry went to college. After her death, the children's ages have remained the same: Henry is 14, Jessie 12, Violet 10, and Benny 5. As of 2006, there are 109 mysteries and 21 specials in the series, with the most recent being The Rock 'n' Roll Mystery (Hardcover: ISBN 0-8075-7089-3 / Paperback: ISBN 0-8075-7090-7).
In July 2004, a museum in Putnam, Connecticut was opened to honor Gertrude Warner and the Boxcar Children series.
