The Pilgrim Village Mystery

The Boxcar Children Special #5

by Gertrude Chandler Warner, Charles Tang (Illustrator)

The Aldens take a trip with Grandfather to Pilgrim Village which has been built to look like an old colonial town. They love the old-fashioned candle shop, printing shop, and the general store. They even get to wear colonial costumes.

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Juvenile, Thanksgiving, Young Adult, Mystery Thriller

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Gertrude Chandler Warner was born in Putnam, Connecticut, on April 16, 1890, to Edgar and Jane Warner. Her family included a sister, Frances, and a brother, John. From the age of five, she dreamed of becoming an author. She wrote stories for her Grandfather Carpenter, and each Christmas she gave him one of these stories as a gift. Today, Ms. Warner is best remembered as the author of THE BOXCAR CHILDREN MYSTERIES.

As a child, Gertrude enjoyed many of the things that girls enjoy today. She loved furnishing a dollhouse with handmade furniture and she liked to read. Her favorite book was ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Often on Sundays after church, Gertrude enjoyed trips to visit her grandparents' farm. Along the way, she and Frances would stop to pick the wildflowers they both loved. Gertrude's favorite flower was the violet.

Her family was a very musical one. They were able to have a family orchestra, and Gertrude enjoyed playing the cello. Her father had brought her one from New York ---a cello, a bow, a case and an instruction book. All together, he paid $14. Later, as an adult, she began playing the pipe organ and sometimes substituted for the church organist.

Due to ill health, Ms. Warner never finished high school. She left in the middle of her second year and studied with a tutor. Then, in 1918, when teachers were called to serve in World War I, the school board asked her to teach first grade. She had forty children in the morning and forty more in the afternoon. Ms. Warner wrote, "I was asked or begged to take this job because I taught Sunday School. But believe me, day school is nothing like Sunday School, and I sure learned by doing --- I taught in that same room for 32 years, retiring at 60 to have more time to write." Eventually, Ms. Warner attended Yale, where she took several teacher training courses.

Once when she was sick and had to stay home from teaching, she thought up the story about the Boxcar Children. It was inspired by her childhood dreams. As a child, she had spent hours watching the trains go by near her family's home. Sometimes she could look through the window of a caboose and see a small stove, a little table, cracked cups with no saucers, and a tin coffee pot boiling away on the stove. The sight had fascinated her and made her dream about how much fun it would be to live and keep house in a boxcar or caboose. She read the story 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. THE BOXCAR CHILDREN gave them a fun story that was easy to read.

Ms. Warner once wrote for her fans, "Perhaps you know that the original BOXCAR CHILDREN. . . raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it! Most of my own childhood exploits, such as living in a freight car, received very little cooperation from my parents."

Though the story of THE BOXCAR CHILDREN went through some changes after it was first written, the version that we are familiar with today was originally published in 1942 by Scott Foresman. Today, Albert Whitman & Company publishes this first classic story as well as the next eighteen Alden children adventures that were written by Ms. Warner.

Gertrude Chandler Warner died in 1979 at the age of 89 after a full life as a teacher, author, and volunteer for the American Red Cross and other charitable organizations. After her death, Albert Whitman & Company continued to receive mail from children across the country asking for more adventures about Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny Alden. In 1991, Albert Whitman added to THE BOXCAR CHILDREN MYSTERIES so that today's children can enjoy many more adventures about this independent and caring group of children.

Books about Gertrude: https://www.goodreads.com/characters/...

Reviews

[Cherish Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4☆ Would recommend)
I loved these books as a kid & I'm really enjoying reading through the series again. I liked the mystery & the suspense. I like how there is more than one possible suspect, who each have reasonable motive. I like how the guilty person feels guilty, but I wish there was more of a sense of justice & consequences. Would recommend.

[Kasey Loftis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great book in the series. I am really enjoying this nostalgic flashback to my elementary days. These were the only books that really got me reading. I enjoyed the setting of this old pilgrim village. It would be a good Thanksgiving read.

[Jishnu Thakkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite character was Benny cause he loves to eat like me

nothing surprised me

i would not change the ending

[Travis Chambers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shorter than the rest. Kids enjoyed it, but this one felt less fleshed out than the others.

[aem · Rating 3 out of 5]

More adventures for the Boxcar children in a colonial stlye village

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the perfect book to read on Thanksgiving!

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good. Like most of the other books in the series that I have read. I highly recommend this series.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read this book very quickly. The action and suspense kept my children wanting to hear the next chapter. They really enjoyed trying to help solve the mystery along with the characters in the book. We were hoping for a bit more information about the Pilgrim lifestyle. Not much was provided as far a history but still a good read.

[Diana Judd]

This book is a mystery. The four children and their grandfather are taking a vacation in a historical village that is set up and run the way any village would have been in colonial times. But all is not fun and games, mysterious things keep happening and the village is started to not run as smoothly as it has been. Shops are being broken into and no one but these four children can figure out what is going on. This was actually a pretty good mystery for kids. The character development was simple but thorough enough that it was clear what was going on and most of the people's motivations. The ending was actually surprising and I liked the incorporation of history into the plot of the story. Although it was unrealistic in that the children cook for themselves, and are staying by themselves totally able to take care of themselves even though they're all between the ages of six and twelve, that's kind of expected in a book like this for kids in that age group. Overall, I did enjoy this book. Definitely worth a read.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 3 out of 5]

My love of reading started when i was young, and it gives me immense pleasure to provide books to Spread the Word Nevada, an organization that passes them on to children in the community. They are a terrific organization supporting an important cause. If your local I encourage you to check them out. For those living further a field, look in your own community, their may already be a similar program in place. And if not, you can always help start one.

http://spreadthewordnevada.org/

Myself, I go out on the weekends and
shop thrift store and bulk book lots to rescue books and donate them. Sometimes I'll find a book I remember reading when I was young and will read it again before passing it on.

I don't rate these books using my normal scale, instead I give most of them three stars. This isn't a Criticism of the book, simply my way of rating them as good for children.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

great when ur little

[Shanjida begum · Rating 5 out of 5]

the boxcar children that something is fishy in piligrim village

[Ruthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book ! A really really short read!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mystery without much suspense and no action--a bland, squeaky-clean story for beginning readers.

[M-girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library.

I liked that this story really tells about history ... printing, housekeeping, dress, and cooking during the Revolutionary Era. The mystery was interesting too.

[Rebecca]

One of my favorite childhood series. I read all the books I could get my hands on :)

[Miri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The boxcar children are visiting an old Pilgrim village, as soon as they arrive they discover accidents are plaguing the village....but are they accidents, or sabotage.

[Haylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the only other book that I read out of the series. Maybe one day I will read them all.

[Johannes Kristian · Rating 5 out of 5]

mcl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



ha-ha!