Growing up this was one of my favorite books to read – The Boxcar Children.
The story is about four siblings, orphaned, alone, scared who have to run away from a bad situation and build a home for themselves. They find an old abandoned boxcar on a train track and their adventures in the book begin.
This story was written by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
She wrote it in 1942, which I did not know this until today. This happens to be a time period I read often about as an adult but more in the vein of the stories of adults surviving (or not) World War II. To see that children struggled even in America during this time, is interesting to me.
The author, was raised in a musical family and was told she had to play an instrument. She chose the cello! However, over time she became sick and suffered a lot from various illnesses. She never finished high school. However, she did later finish her secondary education with a tutor. When World War I broke out, she was called upon to teach the children while the men were off fighting. She loved nature and this love was brought into some of the subsequent books she wrote about the Boxcar Children.
She did continue the adventures of the Boxcar Children with another 18 books and then later other authors wrote more for a total of 150 books. I have never read any of her other ones and I am a person that likes to stick with the original author. I have not read any of the later ones from other authors. However, seeing that she loved nature and brought that into her second book, I may need to check them out!
There is a small museum about the Boxcar Children in Putnam, CT. It is opened on Saturdays and Sundays.
There is also a movie which I have not seen yet but my 18 year old daughter, Stephanie, says it is a good movie and she wants Melanie and I to watch it. However, one MUST read the book first so this is where Melanie and I will begin!
