The Game Store Mystery

The Boxcar Children #104

by Gertrude Chandler Warner (Creator), Robert Papp

When a new store called the Game Spot opens in their town, the Aldens are thrilled. But it's not fun and games when the other stores at Crossroads mall are robbed. What's more, letters are disappearing from the sign in front of the shopping center!

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

131 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

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

[Allyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the part where the sign is always missing letters.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Mr. Alden -- It's great that you decided to accompany your grandchildren as they try to solve a mystery. You don't hang out with them very often so it was probably fun for them to have you along for a change. I know I felt reassured knowing that an adult was along during their midnight stake-out of a strip mall with stores that had been repeatedly robbed. I'm guessing you were low on coffee, though, because surely caffeine-deprivation clouded your judgement when you and your grandchildren follow a robber into an empty store in middle of the night? I'm pretty sure you would have had a cell phone in 2005, since you have pretty much everything money can buy, and perhaps it might have been better to phone the police and keep your grandchildren safely away from a potentially dangerous criminal? Fortunately, you live in Greenfield so no harm came to anyone, the criminal confessed with remarkable ease, and your grandchildren were ready to play at word game championships as planned ;-) Other than my chagrin at the potentially dangerous circumstances of the climax, I found your grandchildren's adventures moderately entertaining though I mostly wanted to watch an episode of Wheel of Fortune given all the missing letters in the signs and the kids trying to piece together what the words were.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 104 of The Boxcar Children. This is the first one in a long group, maybe all where the perpetrator actually goes to jail. What I have loved about this series is that it illustrates that criminals are usually the person you know or come in contact with and that crimes, can simply be an opportunity that someone thinks they can take advantage of. This was a fun little book and recommended for even young readers. ​

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[Yousseif Abdellatif · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not gonna lie, The Game Store Mystery is the first book in months that made me put my phone down. Gertrude Chandler Warner writes with a steady, quiet confidence that pulls you in without any tricks. The ending is softer than I wanted. Perfect for distracted readers like me, rough for anyone who needs a big finish.

[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.

[Charles Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

84%

Called it, gotta seperate crime from work, that's what got my one guy detained.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book in the series.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially like when Carter asked Queenie to marry him.

[Mrs. Bahns]

In this book letters on a sign dissapear and stores are being robbed. The Aldens help find out who.

[Ethan Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one has mystery, stealing, and is one good book.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Someone is robbing the mall and stealing the letters on the sign... or could it be two separate people. The Boxcar kids are here to find out and play a fun new game!

[Martina Munoz · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you like fantasy, and small mystery books, then maybe this can be a good book for you.