The Boxcar Children

This very gentle, early-reader Robinsonade was intensely memorable for me as a child, and is still charming today, judging by my 6yo's enjoyment of it. Four orphaned children who are on their on, running from a grandfather they believe to be cruel, find an abandoned boxcar and make it their home. They find a dump (oh, the days when people just started dumping crap in random places) and trashpick a kettle, and pitchers and plates and a cup, and make a soup ladle. They build a stone firepit, adopt a dog by picking a thorn from his paw, and dam up a small pool for bathing. The hard-working older brother brings home enough spare cash to provide butter, the girls figure out how to keep milk and butter cold in a rock in a pool -- it's all show more completely precious.

Anyway, of course it ends happily, and my 6yo seemed quite satisfied with the happy ending.

As an adult, I noticed many interesting strands that I didn't pick up on in my childhood -- the baker & her husband who didn't like children, but would have been happy to "keep" them for child labor! The wealthy grandfather who was a mill owner, but paid for a big town race once a year. Might be fun to read a socialist realistic retelling of The Boxcar Children. The gender roles of the two older siblings were notable too, although they were more matter-of-fact and less annoying than in some more modern works.

This time around, I read a "60th anniversary" edition which included a brief biography of Gertrude Chandler Warner, and a lot of photos. It mentioned she'd written The Boxcar Children originally in 1924, but the version which has been reprinted so many times is the illustrated version published in 1942. Who knew?

Anyway, the book was delightful, and I'm pleased to have had the experience with Ada. I was never that into the books after this first one, when the kids are living the high life with their rich granddad, but the first one I read over and over. show less

Orphaned children terrified of being sent to live with a nasty grandfather instead run away and end up taking shelter in basically a shipping container in the woods. Faced with starvation the eldest, a 13-year-old boy, seeks work in the nearest township and this source of child labour is readily exploited by a local doctor. His 12-year-old sister meanwhile scavenges in a nearby rubbish dump in order to make a semblance of home - and school! - for her younger siblings. Inevitably however this highly suboptimal way of living leads to the 10-year-old falling dangerously ill.

The moral of the story of course is that no matter how badly off you are, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is fun and surprisingly easy, and if you're ever in any show more real danger not to worry, that's when your rich relative will appear to save you all.

Would definitely appeal to children and also everyone who'd much rather play housekeeping sim games than do actual housekeeping; is a terrible example for anyone who'll ever have any influence on social policy. show less

After their parents die, four children run away to avoid being sent to live with their grandfather, who they don't really know but are sure doesn't like them, and end up living for a while in an abandoned railroad freight car in the woods.

I'm honestly not certain whether I read this as a kid or not. The title is vaguely familiar, and it certainly seems like the sort of thing I'd likely have read, but it didn't stir any great sense of familiarity. If I did, I'm willing to bet I enjoyed it, appreciating the independence and competence of these kids as they build a cozy domesticity out of nothing and live out the childhood fantasy of adulthood (followed by the childhood fantasy of being adopted by someone rich and indulgent).

As an adult, show more though, while there is a certain quaint charm to all of that, it feels like it's all wrapped up in an unspoken, much darker tale, what with their mother being dead at the beginning and their father having apparently drunk himself to death by page two. In my own childhood, I probably wouldn't have questioned things like these kids thinking a hunk of bread makes a perfectly acceptable meal, or the fact that they're expecting something so horrible and terrifying from their remaining relative that running away seems like a reasonable alternative, or that a twelve-year-old girl seem perfectly accustomed to doing literally everything necessary to look after her younger siblings. Adult me is sure thinking about all that a lot, though. show less

This is not a 5 star book but dammit, I'm giving it 5 stars anyway. I remember gobbling this up as a kid and it felt like a goddamn treat to read it as an adult and throw away everything I've learned of life. As I read it, I remembered what it felt like to be a kid -- every broken dish, every rusty spoon is a treasure. I dreamed of moving to the woods, making do for myself, surviving on my own without adults who just don't get it. And (possible spoiler alert) they end up rich! Rich, I tell you! That's exactly how I thought my life would turn out and I'm still waiting. Best of all worlds, totally fake book where people are rewarded for good behavior, there's not a disgusting creep on every corner (or in the White House) and that's show more exactly how I want it. show less

This very gentle, early-reader Robinsonade was intensely memorable for me as a child, and is still charming today, judging by my 6yo's enjoyment of it. Four orphaned children who are on their on, running from a grandfather they believe to be cruel, find an abandoned boxcar and make it their home. They find a dump (oh, the days when people just started dumping crap in random places) and trashpick a kettle, and pitchers and plates and a cup, and make a soup ladle. They build a stone firepit, adopt a dog by picking a thorn from his paw, and dam up a small pool for bathing. The hard-working older brother brings home enough spare cash to provide butter, the girls figure out how to keep milk and butter cold in a rock in a pool -- it's all show more completely precious. [return][return]Anyway, of course it ends happily, and my 6yo seemed quite satisfied with the happy ending. [return][return]As an adult, I noticed many interesting strands that I didn't pick up on in my childhood -- the baker & her husband who didn't like children, but would have been happy to "keep" them for child labor! The wealthy grandfather who was a mill owner, but paid for a big town race once a year. Might be fun to read a socialist realistic retelling of The Boxcar Children. The gender roles of the two older siblings were notable too, although they were more matter-of-fact and less annoying than in some more modern works. [return][return]This time around, I read a "60th anniversary" edition which included a brief biography of Gertrude Chandler Warner, and a lot of photos. It mentioned she'd written The Boxcar Children originally in 1924, but the version which has been reprinted so many times is the illustrated version published in 1942. Who knew?[return][return]Anyway, the book was delightful, and I'm pleased to have had the experience with Ada. I was never that into the books after this first one, when the kids are living the high life with their rich granddad, but the first one I read over and over. show less

I loved this book as a kid. I owned it and read it time and again. Reading it at age 40... it doesn't hold up so well. There's little substance to the book. The voice is quaint though rings as stilted, even for a period piece. What I still like best is the 'competence porn' aspect: these kids are great at surviving on their own. I loved their inventiveness like their behind-the-waterfall fridge and the way they rummage in the junkyard for tools and devices to repurpose. The gender roles are pretty strict, though, and wow does the ending come across as heavy-handed with the 'shun luxury, live best through simplicity' vibe. Very like Heidi, really, another childhood favorite that I re-read last year that awed me with its heavy message. I show more was also struck by the idea that as poorly-off as these kids are, with their parents dead and being homeless, they are still privileged. This would be a very different book if they weren't white. show less

This is the first in The Boxcar Children series, and it is about the four orphaned siblings who are on the run from their grandfather. They think he will be old and mean and scary, so they make a life for themselves doing odd jobs and salvaging supplies from a nearby dump. I adored this series as a kid, but this re-visitation was kind of... bleh. The kids are all so saccharine they pretty much made my teeth ache. Their ingenuity and optimism are certainly good qualities, but it feels like the darker issues they face (homelessness, sickness, etc.) are glossed over and hidden behind their relentless cheerfulness.