They eventually meet their grandfather, who is a wealthy and kind man (although the children had believed him to be cruel).

[6] In the subsequent books, the children encounter many adventures and mysteries in their neighborhood or at the locations they visit with their grandfather.

The majority of the books are set in locations the children are visiting over school holidays such as summer vacation or Christmas break.

Other books in the series have been written by other writers, but always feature the byline "Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner".

They find useful items such as kitchenware at the junkyard, use a stream for water, and collect blueberries for their meals.

Realizing they cannot live on water and blueberries, Henry walks to a nearby town called Silver City for work.

He meets a young doctor, Dr. Moore, who hires Henry for odd jobs, often paying him in spare food and clothing as well as money.

He is awarded a silver cup and 25 dollars by James Henry Alden, his grandfather, neither of them recognizing that they are family.

At some point, Benny's hair begins to grow, so Jessie cuts it with Violet's scissors.

Meanwhile, the children's grandfather, James Henry Alden, has been offering a reward for news of his missing grandchildren.

At their grandfather's house, the children are happy and well-cared for, but speak fondly of their days in the boxcar.

So, as a surprise, Mr. Alden arranges to have the boxcar completely restored, repainted, and moved into his backyard where the children can visit it whenever they like.

At the end of the novel, the children are very glad and make the boxcar their clubhouse and happily live with their grandfather.

In Warner's original books, Henry ages and eventually goes off to college in The Lighthouse Mystery.

His endearingly childish qualities and comments along with his enthusiasm make him a favorite among young readers.

Watch was originally owned by a wealthy lady but ran away and was adopted by the Alden children.

Watch is a Wire Fox Terrier (an Airedale in the 1924 edition), and the children found him while Henry was away at work.

Dr. Moore: (Dr. McAllister in the original 1924 edition) is the man who gave Henry a job and checked Violet when she was ill.

Aunt Jane was once unkind, but was changed in Mystery Ranch, the fourth book of the series.

Zachary Gordon, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, and Jadon Sand voiced Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny respectively.

The sequel film, The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island, was originally planned to be released in the fall 2017.

Some of the mysteries border on the supernatural, although the practical Henry and Jessie always find the sensible reason for anything that appears other-worldly.

(Creatures of Legend, Endangered Animals, and Summer of Adventure) In addition, two spin-off series have been released.

[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] In May 2023, original publisher Albert, Whitman and Company sold the rights to the Boxcar Children series to Penguin Random House.

[24] As she wrote the story, Warner read it to her classes and rewrote it many times so the words were easy to understand.

Some of her pupils spoke other languages at home and were just learning English, so The Boxcar Children gave them a fun story that was easy to read.

Warner once wrote that the original book "raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control!