Friday, March 14, 2014

Review: The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

19426544"One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery.  No one knew them.  No one knew where they came from." These four hungry children are Jessie, Benny, Violet, and Henry.  After their parents pass away, the children are supposed to move in with their grandfather in Greenfield. Frightened of him, they decide to run away instead.     The children soon find their way to an old abandoned boxcar and set it up as their new home.  With straw beds and a homemade shelf, they now have shelter.  Even Henry can go out to explore for work and the girls and young Benny try to find eating utensils.  Each child is involved in the homes upkeep and they find some creative ways to do it.  Chores like cooking, cleaning and swimming in a stone-lined pit all sound more exciting then they might really be.  Helped by a lost dog and Doctor in town, the children soon find that they can't go completely alone. Overall, I really enjoyed the children's adventure, but it was really nice to see them reunited with their grandfather as well.  According to the notes about the author at the end of the book,  Gertrude Warner was a school teacher who began writing The Boxcar Children as a way to provide easy, fun and exciting stories for her students to read.  My review copy was borrowed from the library.  

2 comments:

  1. I need to get some of these read (yeah, I have never read them), there is a group of boys in one of my grade three classes who are reading and liking them!

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    1. I can see the appeal they have that timeless quality. Easy fast reads too. Thanks for stopping by.

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