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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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| − | The story starts on a warm night. Four orphans (Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden) are looking in the window of a bakery. The baker's wife lets them stay for the night, even though she does not like children, and especially not boys. The children explain they are running away from their grandfather, whom they have never seen, but they think he is mean. Later that night, Jessie hears the baker and his wife talking. They decide to keep the three older ones to help at the bakery, but the baker will take Benny to a children's home the next mo |
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| − | They take an old, unused road into the woods, and sleep on the ground the next night. But then there is a thunderstorm, and the children look for shelter. They find an abandoned boxcar, and stay in it until the storm passes. Then they decide to live in it, because it would make a good house. |
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| − | The children live in the boxcar for a few months. Henry goes into town looking for a way to earn money, and is soon doing yard work for Dr. Moore. One day while he is away, the other three find a dog with a thorn in its foot, and Jessie pulls it out. They keep the dog, and Benny names him Watch, because he is a good watchdog.They have fun living on their own. They get a tablecloth from the store, dishes from a dump, and beds made of pine needles. |
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| + | ''The Boxcar Children'' tells the story of four children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, who are orphans. One night, they take shelter in a bakery after buying some bread with the little cash they have. In exchange for allowing them to spend the night, they agree to help around the bakery. However, when they overhear the baker's plans for them, they flee. (In the original 1924 edition, they flee after overhearing that they will be sent to their grandfather, whom they believe would treat them cruelly. In the 1942 edition, they overhear the baker planning to keep the older three siblings but to take Benny to a children's home.) |
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| − | One day, Dr. Moore takes Henry to a free-for-all marathon, and Henry races in it. He wins, and is given a trophy by the race's sponsor, James Henry Alden (who doesn't know Henry is his grandson). He asks for Henry's name, and he says his name is Henry James, because James is his middle name. |
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| + | Finding an abandoned boxcar, the children start a new life of independence. Henry ends up working various odd jobs in a nearby city for a young doctor (Dr. McAllister in the 1924 edition, Dr. Moore in later editions), in order to earn money for food. He also does gardening for the doctor's mother. In one case, she let him take home some parsnips and carrots he had picked because they were too small. The children's lives are pleasant and full of hard work until Violet becomes ill and they go to the doctor for assistance. |
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| − | One day Violet gets sick. Henry and Jessie don't want to take her to a hospital, because they would ask for her name there, and then their grandfather might find them. They go to Dr. Moore's house instead. There is another man staying at the house, and Dr. Moore says his name is Mr. Henry. Violet soon gets better, and the children become friends with Mr. Henry, who is kind and tells them a lot about his big house and garden. |
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| + | Earlier in the novel, the doctor read in the newspaper that a man named James Henry Alden (James Henry Cordyce in the 1924 edition) was offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who located his four lost grandchildren. They had run away because they thought he was cruel. After the doctor takes the sick Violet and the other children to his house, he finally contacts their grandfather. He arrives at the doctor's house. Not wanting to frighten the children into running away again, he does not reveal his full name. Not knowing that he was their "cruel" grandfather, the children warm to his kindness and are surprised but delighted when they eventually discover he is their grandfather. After moving in with him, James moves the boxcar to his backyard for their enjoyment. |
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| − | Then one day Henry figures out that Mr. Henry is really James Henry Alden, his grandfather. Dr. Moore had told him that the four children staying with him were his grandchildren, so Mr. Alden hed come to know them better, and adopt them. The children are happily surprised that he isn't mean at all. They go to live with him, and he even has the boxcar brought into their back yard for a playhouse. They live happily ever after. |
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| − | [[Category:Boxcar Children novels]] |
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[[Category:Boxcar Children Mysteries]] |
[[Category:Boxcar Children Mysteries]] |
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Revision as of 04:22, 29 January 2020
The modern cover of the book.
The Boxcar Children is the first book in the Boxcar Children series. It was written by Gertrude Chandler Warner, and first published in 1924 and republished with edits in 1942. It was turned into a movie as well. The most recent printings of the book are based on the 1942 edition.
Plot
The Boxcar Children tells the story of four children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, who are orphans. One night, they take shelter in a bakery after buying some bread with the little cash they have. In exchange for allowing them to spend the night, they agree to help around the bakery. However, when they overhear the baker's plans for them, they flee. (In the original 1924 edition, they flee after overhearing that they will be sent to their grandfather, whom they believe would treat them cruelly. In the 1942 edition, they overhear the baker planning to keep the older three siblings but to take Benny to a children's home.)
Finding an abandoned boxcar, the children start a new life of independence. Henry ends up working various odd jobs in a nearby city for a young doctor (Dr. McAllister in the 1924 edition, Dr. Moore in later editions), in order to earn money for food. He also does gardening for the doctor's mother. In one case, she let him take home some parsnips and carrots he had picked because they were too small. The children's lives are pleasant and full of hard work until Violet becomes ill and they go to the doctor for assistance.
Earlier in the novel, the doctor read in the newspaper that a man named James Henry Alden (James Henry Cordyce in the 1924 edition) was offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who located his four lost grandchildren. They had run away because they thought he was cruel. After the doctor takes the sick Violet and the other children to his house, he finally contacts their grandfather. He arrives at the doctor's house. Not wanting to frighten the children into running away again, he does not reveal his full name. Not knowing that he was their "cruel" grandfather, the children warm to his kindness and are surprised but delighted when they eventually discover he is their grandfather. After moving in with him, James moves the boxcar to his backyard for their enjoyment.