Title: The Box-Car Children, 1924 edition
Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner
Series: The Boxcar Children, book 1
Major Themes: Family, Siblings
Synopsis: When they found themselves alone in the world, four children decided to take care of themselves for as long as possible.
The Boxcar Children has been a favorite book of mine ever since around 1980 when I started reading books to myself and got it from the library. I have read it to my children at least four times, possibly five, and several of them have read it themselves as well. It is an all-time favorite book here! Recently, though, I learned that not only was the version we were reading not the original, but that the original, titled The Box-Car Children, was published in 1924, so is 100 years old now. That made me curious to know what it was originally like, so I found a place I could download it.
Publisher’s description:
Determined to stay together Henry, Jess, Violet, and Benny sneak off in the middle of the night. Their father has died unexpectedly and they are concerned they will be split up, or even worse, sent off to live with their cruel grandfather. In the forest, they find an abandoned box car. Here they make their home and begin a series of grand adventures, embarking on a life of self-reliance and hard work—but they also enter a world of freedom and adventure. They work odd jobs to make money for necessities, but when Violet falls ill, they’re forced to take her to a doctor…and risk losing their independence.
My thoughts:
Gertrude Chandler Warner was a first-grade teacher. I do not know why she originally wrote The Box-Car Children in 1924, but in about 1942 she revised it and simplified it to make a book that beginning readers would have an easier time with. The original version is richer and more complex than the revised version. Most of it is the same story that all of us know, but I found a few differences. One big one that stood out to me was that at one point while the children were living in the boxcar, which was called a freight car in this book, they learned that ginseng was in high demand by doctors and pharmacists. They hunted it in the forest and sold it to a local pharmacy. There were a number of other ways in which the story was simplified, as well, including the timeline being shortened significantly. There is a lot more detail in this version about their life in the boxcar, as well as a scene at the beginning that explains why the children are on their own. In case it is a problem for your family, this includes their father drinking himself to death. They never appear to be traumatized by that, though.
Now that I have read the original, I would love to own it! Although we have always loved the simpler version, the original is much better.
WARNING: See the warning in the main review
Age levels:
Listening Level—Ages 5 – 8, 8 – 12, Family Friendly
Reading Independently—Ages 8 – 12, 10 – 12, 12 – 15
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged) | MP3 CD Library Binding (unabridged)
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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