The Legend of the Howling Werewolf

The Boxcar Children #148

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Aldens are visiting a small town known for its harvest festival. The town is beautiful in the fall, but rumors of the harvest moon and a werewolf are keeping people away. Can the Aldens get to the bottom of who—or what—is causing such a stir?

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Halloween, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

Audio CD

Published September 8, 2018

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

[Crissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still miss them back in the day when they didn't have all the technology. It still seems weird that they have the technology but yet haven't aged but I guess this makes it more relatable to a new generation. I enjoyed it as always, quick listen so we could all enjoy.

[V. Arrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun installment to the series, and I always like when Watch gets a role.

[Jasmine Dabney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text comes from the Boxcar Children Collection by Gertrude Chandler Warner. In this mystery book, you are taken on an adventure in a small town with the boxcar children. In this mystery, the children are trying to save the annual harvest moon festival. Recently rumors have begun that there is a werewolf and town, this rumor is making the citizens anxious and reluctant to attend the festival. The boxcar children are on journey to determine, is there a werewolf? And where are these rumors coming from?

There are many ways in which I would implement this text. One way for an educator to implement this is by having the students read the text up until the point in which the mystery is solved. When they reach that point, the students' will then write their own version of the story. Students' writing should include the solving of the mystery and the ending of the story. I think this would be a wonderful way to incorporate writing and also have students practice making predictions. Another way I would implement this text would be by having students create a story map. This story map would help them begin to put the pieces of the story and the mystery together and ultimately aid their overall comprehension of the text.

This was certainly a wow book for me. Growing up and in my elementary years, I never really read any texts in the mystery genre. The whole time I read this text, I was on the edge of my seat. This text was so suspenseful and as I read, I was imagining and predicting what was going to happen next. It was almost as if I was on the adventure with the characters themselves. I will definitely start reading more texts from this genre.

[Kasey Loftis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this one during spooky season, and I want more. However, this one being written more recently, I did not like that they are adding technology in. I've said this before in some of my other reviews, but not having technology in them has made them be relatable through many different time periods because you can easily imagine them back when they were originally written or during any of the other time periods that the ghost writers had written them. It's weird having them be the same age as when Getrude wrote them in the 30s, and then have them the same age in the 2010s.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 148 of the Boxcar Children series. I liked this change of pace where evidence interpretation creates a situation where people begin to create a problem where there isn’t one. Not that there isn’t a bad guy in this one, but the main focus is on environmental conservation and being a good citizen of earth. A short fun read that gives a thought to how legends are born. ​

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[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. Would recommend.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first of the new books I've read, it was an audio book, and I didn't care for it. I didn't care for all of the technology, it seems I prefer the older books. Oh well.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable as always.

[Charles Reed · Rating 2 out of 5]

48%

Not a mystery, just a quick problem where a community freaks out unreasonably in an area that clearly is used to this type of wildlife