mmcphee's Full Review: Gertrude Chandler Warner - The Boxcar Children Mys...
I have trouble finding books for my 6 year old daughter to read. Many of the books she wants to read have themes that I am not ready for her to explore. When my nephew passed on his entire series of "The Boxcar Children" by Gertrude Chandler Warner we started with the first book, aptly named "The Boxcar Children."
When was this Book Written?
The Boxcar Children tells the woeful tale of the four Allen children, Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny, orphaned and running away from the grandfather they have never met, fearful that he will be mean. They set up home in an abandoned train boxcar. Jessie takes on the motherly role caring for younger Benny and Violet while Henry (all of 14) earns money for the family by taking on odd jobs for a doctor in a nearby town. The children cook over a fire, dam a stream to bathe in, dig through a dump for household necessities and sleep on pine needle beds. Although the adults they encounter suspect something isn't quite right no one interferes, allowing the children to live alone.
Was this type of lifestyle more acceptable in 1942 when this book was first published? I don't think so, but it is after all just a book; a story for children. And my 6 year old ate it up. She was drawn to these independent children living an almost fairy tale existence.
I wasn't quite as thrilled with the book. Since this was the first in the series, I decide to read it to my daughter. I found the book a bit difficult to read aloud at times, the dialogue in particular was very formal and simply doesn't flow off the tongue. The word "queer" is used often in the book, although certainly not with the connotation it has today; I found myself wanting to substitute odd or strange. Stereotypes abound in the book with a clear demarcation between what boys and girls can do.
Despite having some concerns, the first book was good enough to go on to another in the series before I let my daughter read them on her own. I've read several others on my own and what appeals to me as a parent is the simplicity of the books. The children go on to be at least somewhat supervised by adults, are polite, respectful and resourceful. The children are out having fun and doing, not sitting around watching the world go by. Although so wholesome as to be almost unbelievable, it is a nice change of pace from books with characters that talk back to their parents, and find every way possible to break the rules. I am not afraid what my daughter might be picking up from the Allen children.
Final Thoughts
Although dated in many ways The Boxcar Children is an appropriate place for readers to start this series. Later books in the series, which are all mysteries, are better in my opinion. The books in the entire series are written for proficient readers ready to tackle longer chapter books; a good step after a child has graduated from Junie B. Jones and the Magic Tree House series. I do not recommend them as read aloud books, there are so many better options that are easier and more enjoyable. The Boxcar Children is not the best book in the series but it is the right place to start to get a real sense of the characters. Some children may be distracted by the 65 year old setting, but books in the series continue to be written today, so the Allen children are not stuck in the 40s forever.
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