The Box-Car Children
The Box-Car Children
Four children, alone in the world, make a choice that would terrify most adults: they run. Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden have just lost their father and face a grim future with a grandfather they've been told is cruel. Instead of accepting their fate, they build a life in an abandoned boxcar deep in the forest. They make a home from nothing: salvaged blankets, a woodstove, a pump for water. They plant a garden. They solve problems with ingenuity and grit. When illness strikes, the children face their greatest test yet, revealing the depth of their love for each other and the fierce independence that has kept them alive. But the world hasn't forgotten them, and a generous stranger is searching. What follows is a story about what family truly means and the courage it takes to trust again. Warner wrote this in 1924, and it still pulses with the same irresistible energy: children proving they can handle anything, as long as they have each other.
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“One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“How they love the old boxcar!””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“But when tomorrow came, the children had more than bread and milk, as you will soon see.””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“cake of soap””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“Night Is Turned into Day””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“Then she saw something ahead of her in the woods. It””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“What shall we do? Where shall we go?” thought Jessie. The wind was blowing more and more clouds across the sky, and the lightning was very near. She walked a little way into the woods, looking for a place to go out of the rain. “Where shall we go?” she thought again. Then she saw something ahead of her in the woods. It was an old boxcar. “What a good house that will be in the rain!” she thought.””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“She smiled politely at the woman, but the woman did not smile. She looked at Henry as he put his hand in his pocket for the money. She looked cross, but she sold him the bread. Jessie was looking around, too, and she saw a long red bench under each window of the bakery. The benches had flat red pillows on them. “Will you let us stay here for the night?” Jessie asked. “We could sleep on those benches, and tomorrow we would help you wash the dishes and do things for you.” Now the woman liked this. She did not like to wash dishes very well. She would like to have a big boy to help her with her””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
“where they had come from. The baker’s wife saw them first, as they stood looking in at the window of her store. The little boy was looking at the cakes, the big boy was looking at the loaves of bread, and the two girls were looking at the cookies.””
— Gertrude Chandler Warner
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Warner, Gertrude Chandler. The Box-Car Children. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-box-car-children-989f42ab-2843-4ae1-935f-459fd252ef15.Warner, G. C. (n.d.). The Box-Car Children. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-box-car-children-989f42ab-2843-4ae1-935f-459fd252ef15Warner, Gertrude Chandler. The Box-Car Children. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-box-car-children-989f42ab-2843-4ae1-935f-459fd252ef15.
