The Boxcar Children is a longstanding series of chapter books. Aimed at readers in grades 2-6, there are now more than 160 books in the original series with additional volumes published each year. The series originated in 1924 (almost one hundred years ago!) with a story by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
The story follows the Alden children: Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. The siblings have been orphaned and are afraid that their grandfather will be unkind to them. They live in hiding, caring for each other and making money for food through odd jobs. After stumbling on an abandoned boxcar during a storm, the children take shelter and set up a home with scraps, trash, a beloved lost dog, and a loving family that generations of children have come to love.
In 1942, Warner rewrote the book, shortening it and simplifying the vocabulary. The updated version (the title changed from “The Box-Car Children” to “The Boxcar Children”) was limited to 600 vocabulary words and 15,000 total words to better fit the genre of early reader for grade-school children new to reading chapter books.
The 1942 includes silhouette illustrations by L. Kate Deal.
In 2020, the original 1924 book, published by Rand McNally, entered the public domain and its available on Project Gutenberg.
How Many Boxcar Children Books Are There?
There are now more than 200 books in “The Boxcar Children” universe with multiple series and more planned for the coming year.
There are 19 books written by Warner. After the revised version of the original was published in 1942, the next 18 were released between 1949 and 1976. Beginning in 1991, publisher Albert Whitman & Co. began publishing new mysteries by various writers. The byline of all the books ghostwritten after Warner’s death state “Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner.”
In total, there are 161 volumes in “The Boxcar Children” series, including an additional 142 in the original “Boxcar Children” mysteries series. There is another planned for release in 2023.
There are also 21 books in “The Boxcar Children Specials” series, published between 1993 and 2003. In 2012, there was a prequel, “The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm.” In 2014, the publisher released a how-to guide, “The Boxcar Children Guide to Adventure.”
In 2017, for the 75th anniversary of the 1942 release, Albert Whitman & Co. published five books in “The Boxcar Children Great Adventure” series.
Between 2018 and 2021, there were four “The Boxcar Children Interactive Mysteries,” choose-your-own-adventure books that allow readers to be part of solving the mysteries with the Alden children.
In 2021, publishers released four volumes in “The Boxcar Children Creatures of Legend” series in which the Alden children investigate Bigfoot, elves, mermaids, and a rainforest monster. 2022 saw the addition of four books in “The Boxcar Children Endangered Animals” series. Two books are planned for release 2023 in “The Boxcar Children Summer of Adventure” series.
Boxcar Children Books in Order
After updating the first book in 1942, Warner, a first-grade teacher, did not publish additional Boxcar Children stories for several years. After her retirement from teaching, she published the second book “Surprise Island” in 1949. The list of the 19 books written by Warner include:
- “The Boxcar Children” (1942)
- “Surprise Island” (1949)
- “The Yellow House Mystery” (1953)
- “Mystery Ranch” (1958)
- “Mike’s Mystery” (1960)
- “Blue Bay Mystery” (1961)
- “The Woodshed Mystery” (1962)
- “The Lighthouse Mystery” (1963)
- “Mountain Top Mystery (1964)
- “Schoolhouse Mystery” (1965)
- “Caboose Mystery” (1966)
- “Houseboat Mystery” (1967)
- “Snowbound Mystery” (1968)
- “Tree House Mystery” (1969)
- “Bicycle Mystery” (1970)
- “Mystery in the Sand” (1971)
- “Mystery Behind the Wall (1973)
- “Bus Station Mystery” (1974)
- “Benny Uncovers a Mystery” (1976)
Lasting Appeal
Warner’s books are set in the 1920s and ‘30s. Subsequent books are contemporary to the time they were written. There is interesting commentary on the work ethic at the core of Warner’s fictional world. Whatever her cultural setting, there is clearly lasting appeal for series turning 100 soon. When the first book was published in 1924, Warner said that it raised a “storm of protest from librarians, who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control!” Her response was to point out that this was precisely why children so loved the story.
The story as reimagined in 1942 is simple, and the children are unquestionably good and hard-working at all times, a fact that has led to some criticism. While other books written around the same time successfully portrayed sweet and innocent children who were also believably mischievous or at least unkempt at times, Warner’s children delight in washing dishes and acting with fiscal responsibility.
However shallow the characters and plot may seem, children are enchanted with the idea of total independence in which to behave with responsibility. The enduring fascination with the book even to the latest generation suggests Warner’s work makes for an appealing early reader for the young child building independence with first chapter books.
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