The Boxcar Children

The Boxcar Children is a children's book series originally created and written by the American first-grade school teacher[1] Gertrude Chandler Warner. Today, the series includes nearly 160 titles, with more being released every year.[2] The series is aimed at readers in grades 2–6.[3]

For the children's novel by E. Nesbit, see The Railway Children.
The Boxcar Children
1924 first edition of the first book
AuthorGertrude Chandler Warner, et al.
CountryUnited States
GenreChildren's
Published1924 – present
Websitehttps://www.boxcarchildren.com

Originally published in 1924 by Rand McNally (as The Box-Car Children) and reissued in a shorter revised form in 1942 by Albert Whitman & Company,[4] The Boxcar Children tells the story of four orphaned children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. They create a home for themselves in 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. The book was adapted as the film The Boxcar Children in 2014 and the sequel novel Surprise Island was released as a film in 2018. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed the original book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children".[5] In 2012 the original novel was ranked among the all-time "Top 100 Chapter Books", or children's novels, in a survey published by School Library Journal.[6]

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. Only the first 19 stories were written by creator Warner. Other books in the series have been written by other 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.

Plot summary of the original novel

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are four recently orphaned siblings (in the 1924 version of the tale, the children are orphaned in the first few pages; in the heavily revised and simplified 1942 revision, they have evidently been orphaned for some time). Not wishing to live with their hard-hearted grandfather, whom they have never met because of his disapproval of their parents' marriage, the children strike out on their own following their parents' death. On a cold night, the children decides to stop at a bakery to ask for food. They are invited to stay the night, but while there, they overhear the baker and his wife are discussing their plan to keep the older children as labor while sending young Benny to an orphanage (in the 1924 version, they plan to send the children to their grandfather). Instead, the children escape and flee to the woods.

There they find an abandoned boxcar and renovate it into their new home. They find useful items such as kitchenware at the junkyard, use a stream for water, and collect blueberries for their meals. Realizing they cannot live on water and blueberries, Henry walks to a nearby town called Silver City for work. There he meets a young doctor, Dr. Moore, who hires Henry for odd jobs, often paying him in spare food and clothing as well as money. Suspecting that Henry is not telling the full truth about himself, Dr. Moore follows Henry home in secret and sees the children's living conditions. He decides that they are safe for now and that he should allow Henry to tell the truth when he feels comfortable. However, when Violet falls seriously ill, the doctor intervenes. He takes her to his own home to recover and invites the other children to stay there as guests.

Meanwhile, the children's grandfather, a wealthy steel baron named James Henry Alden, has been offering a reward for news of his missing grandchildren. The doctor connects the missing grandchildren with the ones in his care and goes to speak to Alden, warning him that his grandchildren are afraid of him and encouraging him to befriend the children before revealing who he is. Alden is introduced to the children as a friend of the doctor's. The children find him warm and friendly, so that by the time they learn the truth, they are surprised to learn that he is really their "cruel" grandfather and are more than willing to come live with him.

At their grandfather's house, the children are happy and well-cared for, but speak fondly of their days in the boxcar. As a surprise, Alden arranges to have the boxcar completely restored, repainted, and moved into his backyard where the children can visit it whenever they like.

Characters

Main characters

(The characters are named here as they are in the revised edition of the original book, and its sequels. The family name in the 1924 original edition is Cordyce rather than Alden.)

Henry James Alden: is the oldest of the Alden children; in most books of the series, Henry is 14 years old (13 in the 1924 edition). He's shown to be calm, hardworking, rational, humble and very protective of his younger siblings. Henry also shows a knack for repairing things and is a natural athlete. In Warner's original books, Henry ages and eventually goes off to college in The Lighthouse Mystery.

Jessica "Jessie" Alden: (Jess in the 1924 original edition) is usually 12 years old and is the older sister. She often acts motherly towards Benny and Violet and even Henry. She is often responsible for cooking. Jessie is described as being very tidy and organized. She is sometimes called Jess, but is mostly referred to as Jessie. She is not afraid of anything, 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 over grouchy characters and is good with animals. Violet is often very shy and loves playing the violin. Her favorite color is violet or purple and she often wears one of those colors. She is the shyest of all the children, and sometimes helps Jessie take care of Benny.

Benjamin "Benny" Alden: is the youngest child at 6 years old (5 in the original 1924 edition). He celebrates his seventh birthday in Surprise Island and continues to age throughout the original series, until he is old enough for a department store job in the last original book, "Benny Uncovers a Mystery." Benny is known for his love of all food and the cracked pink cup he found in the dump. His endearingly childish qualities and comments make him a favorite among young readers. He is very enthusiastic.

Watch: is the dog of the Boxcar children. He acted as a "watchdog" when they lived in the boxcar and protected them. Watch was originally owned by a wealthy lady 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 a Wire Fox Terrier (an Airedale in the 1924 edition), and the children found him while Henry was away 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, allowing them a lot of freedom and always offering them advice. He takes care of the kids after the death of their parents.

Dr. Moore: (Dr. McAllister in the original 1924 edition) is the man who gave Henry a job and checked Violet when she was ill.

Secondary characters

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.

John Joseph "Joe" Alden and Alice: The children's cousins/aunt and uncle. (Called both, but mostly cousins) Joe was first seen in the second book of the series, Surprise Island. Alice was first introduced in The Yellow House Mystery; she also married Joe in the same book. They moved to a new house in The Mystery of the Singing Ghost. They adopted 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, the fourth book of the series.

John Carter: An employee of the children's grandfather. Does investigation and carries out the children's grandfather's wishes "off camera".

Animated film

In April 2014, the animated film The Boxcar Children was released. The voice of Grandfather Alden is played by Martin Sheen, and Dr. Moore is voiced by J. K. Simmons. Zachary Gordon, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, and Jadon Sand voiced Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny respectively.[7] The film is also available on DVD.

The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival / Kids (TiFF/Kids) in April 2014 and went on to play at 15 more festivals including Woods Hole International Film Festival, St. Louis International Film Festival and the Gijón International Film Festival in Spain. The film won Best Animated Feature Film at the 2015 St. Tropez International Film Festival.

The film was released by Entertainment One. It had a limited theatrical run in North America, came out on DVD and VOD on August 19, 2014. Streaming and TV rights were sold exclusively to Netflix on October 4, 2014. The film was directed and produced by Daniel Chuba and Mark A.Z. Dippe. The executive producer was Maureen Sargent Gorman.

A sequel film The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island was originally planned to be released in fall 2017. However, Fathom Events released the film in select theaters starting May 8, 2018, followed by a DVD release on August 14, 2018.

Series
Further information: List of Boxcar Children novels

After the first novel, the children become amateur sleuths, and the subsequent series involves the children solving various mysteries and occasionally traveling to other locations as they do so. They stumble across a mystery no matter where they are, whether on vacation or in their own backyard. They usually solve the mystery with very little adult intervention, although adults are present in the novel (the author said she wrote about mostly-unsupervised children because that would appeal to children). Some of the mysteries border on the supernatural, although the practical Henry and Jessie always find the sensible reason for anything that appears other-worldly. Most of the mysteries involve thefts and usually involve the Alden children helping someone they know.

The series are divided into mysteries and specials; all of the specials were written after Warner's death. As of 2014, there are 145 mysteries and 21 specials in the series.[8]

About the author
Boxcar at the museum in 2018
Main article: Gertrude Chandler Warner

Warner's life was chronicled in the biography "Gertrude Chandler Warner and the Boxcar Children"[9] 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.[10]

In July 2004, a museum in Putnam, Connecticut, was opened in a red boxcar to honor Gertrude Warner and the Boxcar Children series.[11] She is buried in Grove Street Cemetery, Putnam, Connecticut.[12]

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 at home and were just learning English, so The Boxcar Children gave them a fun story that was easy to read. Warner once wrote that the original book "raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it!"

See also

References
  1. "About Gertrude Chandler Warner". Awhitmanco.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-07. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  2. "The Boxcar Children Series by Gertrude Chandler Warner". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  3. "Boxcar Reading Levels" (PDF). Albertwhitman.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  4. "The Boxcar Children". The Boxcar Children. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  5. National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  6. Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). "Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  7. Chuba, Daniel; Dippé, Mark A. Z.; Jo, Kyungho (2014-12-18), The Boxcar Children (Animation, Adventure, Family), Illeana Douglas, Mackenzie Foy, Zachary Gordon, Joey King, Hammerhead Productions, Warner Bros., retrieved 2021-02-01
  8. "Boxcar Children Mysteries: The Boxcar Children®". Boxcarchildren.com. Archived from the original on 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
  9. "Gertrude Chandler Warner and the Boxcar Children at Albert Whitman & Company". Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  10. "Children's Notes, Boxcar Children Redux". Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  11. Braccidiferro, Gail (2004-06-20). "The Boxcar Children: A Museum Caper (Published 2004)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  12. "Gertrude Chandler Warner (1890-1979) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
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