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The Boxcar Children #6
Blue Bay Mystery
The Aldens find a castaway on a South Sea island. How did he get there and who is he?
160 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1961
184 people are currently reading
1692 people want to read
About the author
Gertrude Chandler Warner
534 books771 followersGertrude 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/...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
September 6, 2012
Last time the children knew Grandfather was up to something because he seemed angry. In an interesting (I’m using the adjective loosely here) change of events, this time they know something is up because he’s happy – he’s joking with Benny, and it’s an event to be remarked on and remembered and followed closely. At length. It really gives you some insight into day-to-day life with Grandfather, when any hint of emotion is an anomaly to be noted. I can only imagine that his normal state of being is a kind of catatonic, drugged out bliss—with blank eyes and a frozen expression of nothingness.
This time Grandfather has surprised his brood of orphans with a trip to the South Seas! Not on a cruise ship, as you’d imagine, but instead on a freighter, probably running illicit cargo to Tahiti. Grandfather had planned on just taking them to San Francisco and then he considered Tahiti (probably to sell as house slaves), but THEN his friend tells him about first mate Lars Larson (Gertie’s not too creative about naming people. It’s probably where Benny gets his skillz. Remember Potato Camp?) Lars got shipwrecked on this deserted island for an indeterminate amount of time, and it was so much fun (!) that he wants to go back FOR VACATION. I think Lars has PTSD. Sidebar – in another interesting insight of Life with James Henry (LWJH from now on), when the kids come in to meet Lars for the first time, Grandfather announces that he’s their friend from now on. He just decrees it so, and no one bats an eye. Let’s take a poll about why we think that he declares Lars their friend, so saith JH, let it be written instead of letting them decide if they actually want to be friends with this middle-aged stranger who has appeared in their living room and has whispered conversations with their grandfather behind closed doors. He calls them all “Mr.” and “Miss,” so he knows his place. This is probably why they don’t have more friends.
Anyway, what better place to send your grandchildren than a deserted, UNCHARTED island where no one can find them? And for some reason Mike Wood is also going—apparently Benny is the only one that has friends. In Surprise Island, all the other children had at least one other friend, but I think that they were just rentals. Grandfather has been corresponding with Mike (but not his mother, I presume) about the trip–Benny mentions in passing that he had noticed his childlike scrawl on incoming envelopes, but I guess nothing about Grandfather exchanging letters with a seven year old seemed mysterious? Aren’t these kids supposed to be inquisitive? Grandfather is a TYCOON, and nothing about him makes it seem likely that he’d have any interest in being Mike’s pen pal. Nonetheless, apparently they’ve been corresponding for months. I suspect that Mike has some dirt on Grandfather, possibly something about an entire town suffering from uranium poisoning, and JH is trying to placate him with a fabulous vacation. Perhaps a vacation where a small boy could easily go astray and get left behind. Or shipwrecked. Or eaten by the sharks that abound in Blue Bay. PROBLEM SOLVED.
The most exciting part of the trip is that they will all be missing school—but Grandfather doesn’t want them to miss out on education—he knows that his grandchildren are too dense to catch up with the rest of the class if they’re out for more than two days. So he has their teachers create unique textbooks for each child, individually bound, color-coded, and stamped with their names in gold. REAL GOLD.
Of course, the books are violet for Violet, red for Benny, green for Henry, and blue for Jessie, because everything they own is one single shade. Even their suitcases follow their stringent color guidelines. Do you think Grandfather can’t tell them apart unless they are wearing their assigned color? Or he’s just OCD and likes everything to match? It’s very Captain Von Trappe of him, minus the piercing whistle. He obviously chooses color coding instead since the whistle would probably aggravate his hangover and you can see colors when you just barely open your eyes.
Naturally, Grandfather flies the children to the ship on his private jet. Mike Wood is waiting unaccompanied on the airstrip, his mother probably sick with worry back at the mine, unable to make a single pie. Frozen pie crusts and cans of filling are going to waste back at Mike’s Mother’s Place. We’re assuming that the handsome Mr. Carter took care of brokering this deal on Grandfather’s behalf, and he’ll also be in charge of making sure that Mike keeps quiet when he gets back. I’m pretty sure that he is in charge of doing JH’s dirty work.
Every morning Grandfather rings a school bell, and every day, fortuitously, whatever the children see in the ocean is exactly what is outlined that day in their specialized textbooks. It’s like Grandfather knows the future. OR CONTROLS IT.
He’s also arranged for them to look at some seaweed. Joe probably pointed out how much they enjoyed naming the different kinds of seaweed (red seaweed, pink seaweed, etc., not the actual names) back on Surprise Island, and Grandfather uses this as an excuse to distract them while he occupies himself elsewhere on the ship. “Kids! Look at this bag of seaweed! I’ve brought a microscope so you can look at it UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL-LIKE to be sure that you’ve assigned the proper colors to each bit. Then you can divvy it up amongst yourselves based on the Alden Family Color Coding Scheme.”
The most exciting part of the trip comes when they get to help Lars pack the lifeboat for the trip to the island.
“OMG we LOVE TO PACK THINGS!” Jessie shouts with a maniacal gleam in her eyes.
“Dry milk! Canned meat! Canned beans! Things in cans are MY FAVORITE!” Benny exclaims with glee.
This is the part of the story where I become certain there are drugs somewhere on that boat. Don’t even get me started on Benny and Mike getting in a fight about who can eat more bread.
The group heads out into the lifeboat and makes it to the island in about three seconds. Lars warns them not to swim in the bay because they will get eaten by killer sharks. This is, of course, the bay that they’ve all just been neck-deep in dragging the boat to shore. I am disappointed to realize that Grandfather is (uncharacteristically) accompanying them on this trip. What?? The Aldens don’t do things as a family! This is Grandfather’s summertime of debauchery! There is only one explanation—Grandfather is trying out a cheap rehab program. Unwise, as being around his grandchildren 24/7 will surely drive him to drink. Fortunately, there is sugarcane on this island, so if he gets desperate he can always try to rig up a still out of some shells and a coconut husk. The whole point of the vacation is that the kids like to make “something of nothing” – you can’t make this stuff up – and what better way to apply themselves than to help old JH get his fix?
Predictably, the next twenty pages describe dinner. You wouldn’t think that amount of writing would be necessary to describe picking bananas and opening cans of beans—but you’d be wrong. Everyone decides to carve themselves a spoon, except Violet of course who is too delicate. And then Jessie finds the perfect place to wash the dishes. You can tell this is a real vacation, because Jessie lets everyone wash their own dishes. She is really taking it easy. Remember her despair about washing the dump dishes in cold water? By now she’s decided that it’s totally fine to eat out of shells that they found on the beach and rinsed in the ocean. A little fish poo never hurt anyone. It’s all organic, right? She and Violet are pretty excited about having washed them in salt water – maybe they think that salty=clean? Obviously their specialized textbooks didn’t contain details about how too much salt leads to heart disease. Or maybe they did, and they’re trying to send Grandfather to an early grave out in the wilds of the uncharted Tahiti-adjacent Pacific. If they’re smart, they’ll cut Lars in on the deal for a small percentage of their inheritance.
The next morning Grandfather wakes up craving his fix. Gertrude uses the euphemism ‘coffee’ but we all know the truth. Luckily for him, Violet only lives for other people’s approval, and she has smuggled some in. How delightful. Now Grandfather will never get clean. In the meantime, Violet has nothing to hem since her secret package was full of coffee, and I’m willing to bet that it’s driving her to distraction. I hope that Grandfather appreciates her sacrifice when he sobers up and sees her unraveling the blankets for thread.
After breakfast, the children go exploring, and unsurprisingly find an enormous, Easter-island type statue in about five seconds. This priceless archeological find hardly phases our heroes, who are mostly just interested in finding tidal pools and colored seaweed. Benny does make a special note of a drinking shell next to the spring, though, so he’s got his priorities in order. No one even thinks about how much their “archaeologist” cousins Joe and Alice would love this Easter Island-esque find, either. Joe practically peed his pants with excitement about the arrowheads on Surprise Island. Imagine how he’d feel about a giant statue? Of course, he and Alice are probably making it rain back at Alden Manor while they’re staying there unsupervised, so they could probably care less about the statue. Now that I think about it, they didn’t really care about the arrowheads, either, as evidenced by the whole dynamite scenario.
In the next ten minutes, about fifteen mysterious things have happened, including an unripe coconut falling from a tree, and the discovery of what appears to be installation artwork in a tide pool. If that wasn’t enough, the next day they find a turtle shell with the exact same design carved into it. Instead of preserving the mysterious artwork, the Aldens immediately utilize it as cookware. Art shmart. Take a bath hippie, the Aldens would say. They have fish stew to make, and they need a kettle. I personally love how they decided to make fish stew long before anyone found the shell, which is just exactly what they need. THE PUPPETMASTER STRIKES AGAIN.
The group goes down to the old fishing hole to catch the ingredients for their new turtle kettle—but Lars only has enough fishing lines for the boys. It’s just as well, Grandfather points out, the girls probably would mess it up anyways. It’s best to just let them watch from the rocks while all four boys try to catch the same grouper trapped in a tide pool. Sporting! Eventually someone (Henry maybe? I drifted off there for a bit) lands the grouper, and we can go back to the huts. An extensive description of cleaning and cooking the fish follows. Riveting stuff, this.
Nothing mysterious happens during the food preparation. Gertie doesn’t like to get sidetracked when meals are involved, which is a position I can get behind. However, as soon as she’s described every detail of stew prep (dried onions!), clues start popping up fast and thick again. Next, there’s a myna bird that says “Hello, Peter!” Benny strains his mental faculties and deduces that Peter must have been the person who taught the bird to talk. You really can’t get anything by this kid. He’s probably been drinking a lot of canned milk, so he’s at the top of his game. They spend the next chapter updating us on the stew preparation, discussing Peter, and planning their next meal. Henry thinks it will be pretty exciting if Peter is on the island right now. Because that’s not creepy. They’ve only been there for two weeks without seeing anyone. Violet is worried that it’s a cannibal, but Grandfather reasonably points out that cannibals don’t speak English. Apparently it’s a mutually exclusive thing, so they’re all safe. Old JH can be quite helpful when he’s lucid. I’m fairly certain that Violet’s special textbook covered cannibals extensively because this is not the last we’ll hear about them. Clearly no one screened the book for content that wouldn’t upset her delicate constitution. Heads will roll. Grandfather does not like it when Violet is upset.
Speaking of rolling heads, Mike preempts Benny and renames Blue Bay Shark Bay, lest they forget about the danger lurking beneath the lovely blue water. I expected a knock-down, drag-out fistfight over this coup, but Benny doesn’t say anything. He made a huge to-do about not knowing that Mike could swim, but he’s fine with him taking over giving things stupid and obvious names? That’s Benny’s trademark. I think Benny’s been hitting the sauce when Grandfather isn’t looking. Nothing else could explain how chill he is about the situation. Jessie is always worried that Benny is going to pitch a fit when something doesn’t suit him, so I suspect that he throws tantrums on a regular basis.
Several chapters of island fun follow. Then one day Henry declares that he doesn’t want to nap, and in true codependent Stepford fashion, the other kids jump right on that bandwagon. You know they don’t like to be separated for any length of time. Even Mike has relinquished his independence and sense of individuality by now. Since there are a lot of mysterious things going on, they decide to head inland into the untamed wilderness. Grandfather and Lars both know that this is foolish since there is clearly someone loose on the island, but they don’t want to send Violet into hysterics because she’s afraid of cannibals again, so they wave goodbye and send the children merrily on their way without even a machete to “clear away brush.” Actually, that’s probably wise. I can totally see Violet sobbing her eyes out over the mutilation of those poor, helpless plants and their displacement from their home on the jungle path. Anyway, Grandfather is having his nap come hell or high water, so he sends Lars after the kids to keep an eye on them. This seems surprisingly protective until you realize that Lars is in the middle of mending one of the huts and he’s probably making a lot of noise and keeping Grandfather from getting his beauty sleep.
Meanwhile, the kids are traipsing through the wilderness without a care in the world. They revisit the Easter Island statue so that they can go rock climbing on the priceless artifact, having totally forgotten Grandfather’s earlier warning about needing to avoid broken legs since they’re miles from medical help. Of course, Jessie has probably taken some sort of first aid course as a part of her effort to be the world’s greatest homemaker, and she’s likely anxious to try out her new skillset, so maybe she’s encouraging the others to flirt with danger. I kept waiting for Indiana Jones to spring out of the woods and yank them off of the statue with his whip (this book would be AMAZING if Indy was hiding in the woods), but no such luck. All of the other Aldens scramble up the rocks, leaving poor little Violet to fend for herself. Fortunately, Mike remembers that she is a special snowflake melting in the tropical heat, and he helps her climb up. I’d like to point out that Mike is probably seven years old and Violet is around twelve, but from all the description of how strong Mike is, you’d think that Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Conan days is helping her destroy archaeological evidence instead of her kid brother’s best friend.
“OMG YOU GUYS. There is a STUMP over here on this mountain and I know it didn’t grow here because there are stones all around the edges to hold it in place and also we are sitting on a slab of rock!!!” Detective Benny explains the obvious to everyone else, as usual.
“What an AMAZING observation! I WONDER WHAT IT’S FOR???”
“INDEED. Why would there be a stump here that didn’t grow here but it is so obviously here for a reason?”
Thankfully, Henry cuts this tiresome babble off by standing on the stump. Lo and behold, he finds a cave that is an EXACT REPLICA of the dear old boxcar, right down to Benny’s pink cup. Hello, Puppetmaster. We’ve missed you.
Benny sees something leaping through the trees and he goes tearing off through the jungle after it. In a scene remarkably reminiscent of his wandering off into the woods after the hermit in The Yellow House Mystery, no one notices that he’s gone. In this case, it’s even more ridiculous since they’re halfway up a mountain on a ledge that I’m assuming he has to leap off of in order to track a possible cannibal in the trees. He’s also off of any discernible path, so I’m thinking that he’s making a considerable amount of noise as he crashes through the wilderness. This should give you an idea of how engrossed everyone is in watching Mike try out the bed in the boxcar cave.
Anyway, Benny is following the mystery man in the trees (sadly not the original Mystery Man, Mr. Carter. That would have been an amazing twist. “Oh, hi, guys. It’s me, Mr. Carter, JH’s personal uranium hunter and general fixer. I’m just hiding here in the trees masquerading as a cannibal and living in a cave eerily reminiscent of your former home”) when he falls into a giant brush-covered pit. Most people would be alarmed to be trapped in a pit on a remote island possibly populated by cannibals after having run off into the jungle without telling anyone where they were going. Not Benny, though.
“Oh, I seem to have fallen into a deep pit. Lucky it isn’t filled with snakes.”
Okay, I lied. He’s actually glad it’s not full of water, but that’s stupid since water would break the fall and he’d be closer to the top. If he was concerned about crocodiles or piranhas, then yeah, maybe, but just water? Don’t be an idiot, Benny. Fortunately, a shaggy head pops over the rim in just a few minutes.
“Hi, Benny! I’m Peter. I see you’ve fallen into my trap. Instead of just coming out to meet potential rescuers after determining that you weren’t cannibals or rapists, I’ve been watching you from the trees and stealing your food for weeks. Now that I’ve caught you and you seem to be unharmed, it seemed like a good time to introduce myself.”
Most people would be alarmed that they’ve been living in close proximity to a stalkery Peeping Tom-esque thief for the past few weeks, but Benny is totally nonchalant about it. Sneaking Grandfather’s booze is really taking the edge off. Also, what was Peter planning on trapping in this giant hole? Lions? Tigers? Bears? Lars has gone on and on about how there aren’t any dangerous animals on the island, so it seems like a waste of effort to dig the hole. Also, you’d be a sitting duck for predators while you were digging it, so you’d be dead long before the trap became useful if there were any maneaters on the island. Also, what did he dig this huge pit with? Shells? This whole business stinks, and not just because Peter hasn’t had a bath in six months. I’m hypothesizing that Peter, so long removed from social interaction, felt he needed an ice breaker. Walking into their camp and introducing himself was too intimidating, but he felt that greeting them after they fell into a giant hole that he created would be the perfect opportunity to make polite introductions. At least in that scenario, they’d be at his mercy.
Peter and Benny become best friends in a normal, two minute span, and the group leads him back to their huts. Despite being shipwrecked for less than seven months, and only alone for three weeks
(read the rest of the review here: http://rampantreads.wordpress.com/201...)
This time Grandfather has surprised his brood of orphans with a trip to the South Seas! Not on a cruise ship, as you’d imagine, but instead on a freighter, probably running illicit cargo to Tahiti. Grandfather had planned on just taking them to San Francisco and then he considered Tahiti (probably to sell as house slaves), but THEN his friend tells him about first mate Lars Larson (Gertie’s not too creative about naming people. It’s probably where Benny gets his skillz. Remember Potato Camp?) Lars got shipwrecked on this deserted island for an indeterminate amount of time, and it was so much fun (!) that he wants to go back FOR VACATION. I think Lars has PTSD. Sidebar – in another interesting insight of Life with James Henry (LWJH from now on), when the kids come in to meet Lars for the first time, Grandfather announces that he’s their friend from now on. He just decrees it so, and no one bats an eye. Let’s take a poll about why we think that he declares Lars their friend, so saith JH, let it be written instead of letting them decide if they actually want to be friends with this middle-aged stranger who has appeared in their living room and has whispered conversations with their grandfather behind closed doors. He calls them all “Mr.” and “Miss,” so he knows his place. This is probably why they don’t have more friends.
Anyway, what better place to send your grandchildren than a deserted, UNCHARTED island where no one can find them? And for some reason Mike Wood is also going—apparently Benny is the only one that has friends. In Surprise Island, all the other children had at least one other friend, but I think that they were just rentals. Grandfather has been corresponding with Mike (but not his mother, I presume) about the trip–Benny mentions in passing that he had noticed his childlike scrawl on incoming envelopes, but I guess nothing about Grandfather exchanging letters with a seven year old seemed mysterious? Aren’t these kids supposed to be inquisitive? Grandfather is a TYCOON, and nothing about him makes it seem likely that he’d have any interest in being Mike’s pen pal. Nonetheless, apparently they’ve been corresponding for months. I suspect that Mike has some dirt on Grandfather, possibly something about an entire town suffering from uranium poisoning, and JH is trying to placate him with a fabulous vacation. Perhaps a vacation where a small boy could easily go astray and get left behind. Or shipwrecked. Or eaten by the sharks that abound in Blue Bay. PROBLEM SOLVED.
The most exciting part of the trip is that they will all be missing school—but Grandfather doesn’t want them to miss out on education—he knows that his grandchildren are too dense to catch up with the rest of the class if they’re out for more than two days. So he has their teachers create unique textbooks for each child, individually bound, color-coded, and stamped with their names in gold. REAL GOLD.
Of course, the books are violet for Violet, red for Benny, green for Henry, and blue for Jessie, because everything they own is one single shade. Even their suitcases follow their stringent color guidelines. Do you think Grandfather can’t tell them apart unless they are wearing their assigned color? Or he’s just OCD and likes everything to match? It’s very Captain Von Trappe of him, minus the piercing whistle. He obviously chooses color coding instead since the whistle would probably aggravate his hangover and you can see colors when you just barely open your eyes.
Naturally, Grandfather flies the children to the ship on his private jet. Mike Wood is waiting unaccompanied on the airstrip, his mother probably sick with worry back at the mine, unable to make a single pie. Frozen pie crusts and cans of filling are going to waste back at Mike’s Mother’s Place. We’re assuming that the handsome Mr. Carter took care of brokering this deal on Grandfather’s behalf, and he’ll also be in charge of making sure that Mike keeps quiet when he gets back. I’m pretty sure that he is in charge of doing JH’s dirty work.
Every morning Grandfather rings a school bell, and every day, fortuitously, whatever the children see in the ocean is exactly what is outlined that day in their specialized textbooks. It’s like Grandfather knows the future. OR CONTROLS IT.
He’s also arranged for them to look at some seaweed. Joe probably pointed out how much they enjoyed naming the different kinds of seaweed (red seaweed, pink seaweed, etc., not the actual names) back on Surprise Island, and Grandfather uses this as an excuse to distract them while he occupies himself elsewhere on the ship. “Kids! Look at this bag of seaweed! I’ve brought a microscope so you can look at it UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL-LIKE to be sure that you’ve assigned the proper colors to each bit. Then you can divvy it up amongst yourselves based on the Alden Family Color Coding Scheme.”
The most exciting part of the trip comes when they get to help Lars pack the lifeboat for the trip to the island.
“OMG we LOVE TO PACK THINGS!” Jessie shouts with a maniacal gleam in her eyes.
“Dry milk! Canned meat! Canned beans! Things in cans are MY FAVORITE!” Benny exclaims with glee.
This is the part of the story where I become certain there are drugs somewhere on that boat. Don’t even get me started on Benny and Mike getting in a fight about who can eat more bread.
The group heads out into the lifeboat and makes it to the island in about three seconds. Lars warns them not to swim in the bay because they will get eaten by killer sharks. This is, of course, the bay that they’ve all just been neck-deep in dragging the boat to shore. I am disappointed to realize that Grandfather is (uncharacteristically) accompanying them on this trip. What?? The Aldens don’t do things as a family! This is Grandfather’s summertime of debauchery! There is only one explanation—Grandfather is trying out a cheap rehab program. Unwise, as being around his grandchildren 24/7 will surely drive him to drink. Fortunately, there is sugarcane on this island, so if he gets desperate he can always try to rig up a still out of some shells and a coconut husk. The whole point of the vacation is that the kids like to make “something of nothing” – you can’t make this stuff up – and what better way to apply themselves than to help old JH get his fix?
Predictably, the next twenty pages describe dinner. You wouldn’t think that amount of writing would be necessary to describe picking bananas and opening cans of beans—but you’d be wrong. Everyone decides to carve themselves a spoon, except Violet of course who is too delicate. And then Jessie finds the perfect place to wash the dishes. You can tell this is a real vacation, because Jessie lets everyone wash their own dishes. She is really taking it easy. Remember her despair about washing the dump dishes in cold water? By now she’s decided that it’s totally fine to eat out of shells that they found on the beach and rinsed in the ocean. A little fish poo never hurt anyone. It’s all organic, right? She and Violet are pretty excited about having washed them in salt water – maybe they think that salty=clean? Obviously their specialized textbooks didn’t contain details about how too much salt leads to heart disease. Or maybe they did, and they’re trying to send Grandfather to an early grave out in the wilds of the uncharted Tahiti-adjacent Pacific. If they’re smart, they’ll cut Lars in on the deal for a small percentage of their inheritance.
The next morning Grandfather wakes up craving his fix. Gertrude uses the euphemism ‘coffee’ but we all know the truth. Luckily for him, Violet only lives for other people’s approval, and she has smuggled some in. How delightful. Now Grandfather will never get clean. In the meantime, Violet has nothing to hem since her secret package was full of coffee, and I’m willing to bet that it’s driving her to distraction. I hope that Grandfather appreciates her sacrifice when he sobers up and sees her unraveling the blankets for thread.
After breakfast, the children go exploring, and unsurprisingly find an enormous, Easter-island type statue in about five seconds. This priceless archeological find hardly phases our heroes, who are mostly just interested in finding tidal pools and colored seaweed. Benny does make a special note of a drinking shell next to the spring, though, so he’s got his priorities in order. No one even thinks about how much their “archaeologist” cousins Joe and Alice would love this Easter Island-esque find, either. Joe practically peed his pants with excitement about the arrowheads on Surprise Island. Imagine how he’d feel about a giant statue? Of course, he and Alice are probably making it rain back at Alden Manor while they’re staying there unsupervised, so they could probably care less about the statue. Now that I think about it, they didn’t really care about the arrowheads, either, as evidenced by the whole dynamite scenario.
In the next ten minutes, about fifteen mysterious things have happened, including an unripe coconut falling from a tree, and the discovery of what appears to be installation artwork in a tide pool. If that wasn’t enough, the next day they find a turtle shell with the exact same design carved into it. Instead of preserving the mysterious artwork, the Aldens immediately utilize it as cookware. Art shmart. Take a bath hippie, the Aldens would say. They have fish stew to make, and they need a kettle. I personally love how they decided to make fish stew long before anyone found the shell, which is just exactly what they need. THE PUPPETMASTER STRIKES AGAIN.
The group goes down to the old fishing hole to catch the ingredients for their new turtle kettle—but Lars only has enough fishing lines for the boys. It’s just as well, Grandfather points out, the girls probably would mess it up anyways. It’s best to just let them watch from the rocks while all four boys try to catch the same grouper trapped in a tide pool. Sporting! Eventually someone (Henry maybe? I drifted off there for a bit) lands the grouper, and we can go back to the huts. An extensive description of cleaning and cooking the fish follows. Riveting stuff, this.
Nothing mysterious happens during the food preparation. Gertie doesn’t like to get sidetracked when meals are involved, which is a position I can get behind. However, as soon as she’s described every detail of stew prep (dried onions!), clues start popping up fast and thick again. Next, there’s a myna bird that says “Hello, Peter!” Benny strains his mental faculties and deduces that Peter must have been the person who taught the bird to talk. You really can’t get anything by this kid. He’s probably been drinking a lot of canned milk, so he’s at the top of his game. They spend the next chapter updating us on the stew preparation, discussing Peter, and planning their next meal. Henry thinks it will be pretty exciting if Peter is on the island right now. Because that’s not creepy. They’ve only been there for two weeks without seeing anyone. Violet is worried that it’s a cannibal, but Grandfather reasonably points out that cannibals don’t speak English. Apparently it’s a mutually exclusive thing, so they’re all safe. Old JH can be quite helpful when he’s lucid. I’m fairly certain that Violet’s special textbook covered cannibals extensively because this is not the last we’ll hear about them. Clearly no one screened the book for content that wouldn’t upset her delicate constitution. Heads will roll. Grandfather does not like it when Violet is upset.
Speaking of rolling heads, Mike preempts Benny and renames Blue Bay Shark Bay, lest they forget about the danger lurking beneath the lovely blue water. I expected a knock-down, drag-out fistfight over this coup, but Benny doesn’t say anything. He made a huge to-do about not knowing that Mike could swim, but he’s fine with him taking over giving things stupid and obvious names? That’s Benny’s trademark. I think Benny’s been hitting the sauce when Grandfather isn’t looking. Nothing else could explain how chill he is about the situation. Jessie is always worried that Benny is going to pitch a fit when something doesn’t suit him, so I suspect that he throws tantrums on a regular basis.
Several chapters of island fun follow. Then one day Henry declares that he doesn’t want to nap, and in true codependent Stepford fashion, the other kids jump right on that bandwagon. You know they don’t like to be separated for any length of time. Even Mike has relinquished his independence and sense of individuality by now. Since there are a lot of mysterious things going on, they decide to head inland into the untamed wilderness. Grandfather and Lars both know that this is foolish since there is clearly someone loose on the island, but they don’t want to send Violet into hysterics because she’s afraid of cannibals again, so they wave goodbye and send the children merrily on their way without even a machete to “clear away brush.” Actually, that’s probably wise. I can totally see Violet sobbing her eyes out over the mutilation of those poor, helpless plants and their displacement from their home on the jungle path. Anyway, Grandfather is having his nap come hell or high water, so he sends Lars after the kids to keep an eye on them. This seems surprisingly protective until you realize that Lars is in the middle of mending one of the huts and he’s probably making a lot of noise and keeping Grandfather from getting his beauty sleep.
Meanwhile, the kids are traipsing through the wilderness without a care in the world. They revisit the Easter Island statue so that they can go rock climbing on the priceless artifact, having totally forgotten Grandfather’s earlier warning about needing to avoid broken legs since they’re miles from medical help. Of course, Jessie has probably taken some sort of first aid course as a part of her effort to be the world’s greatest homemaker, and she’s likely anxious to try out her new skillset, so maybe she’s encouraging the others to flirt with danger. I kept waiting for Indiana Jones to spring out of the woods and yank them off of the statue with his whip (this book would be AMAZING if Indy was hiding in the woods), but no such luck. All of the other Aldens scramble up the rocks, leaving poor little Violet to fend for herself. Fortunately, Mike remembers that she is a special snowflake melting in the tropical heat, and he helps her climb up. I’d like to point out that Mike is probably seven years old and Violet is around twelve, but from all the description of how strong Mike is, you’d think that Arnold Schwarzenegger in his Conan days is helping her destroy archaeological evidence instead of her kid brother’s best friend.
“OMG YOU GUYS. There is a STUMP over here on this mountain and I know it didn’t grow here because there are stones all around the edges to hold it in place and also we are sitting on a slab of rock!!!” Detective Benny explains the obvious to everyone else, as usual.
“What an AMAZING observation! I WONDER WHAT IT’S FOR???”
“INDEED. Why would there be a stump here that didn’t grow here but it is so obviously here for a reason?”
Thankfully, Henry cuts this tiresome babble off by standing on the stump. Lo and behold, he finds a cave that is an EXACT REPLICA of the dear old boxcar, right down to Benny’s pink cup. Hello, Puppetmaster. We’ve missed you.
Benny sees something leaping through the trees and he goes tearing off through the jungle after it. In a scene remarkably reminiscent of his wandering off into the woods after the hermit in The Yellow House Mystery, no one notices that he’s gone. In this case, it’s even more ridiculous since they’re halfway up a mountain on a ledge that I’m assuming he has to leap off of in order to track a possible cannibal in the trees. He’s also off of any discernible path, so I’m thinking that he’s making a considerable amount of noise as he crashes through the wilderness. This should give you an idea of how engrossed everyone is in watching Mike try out the bed in the boxcar cave.
Anyway, Benny is following the mystery man in the trees (sadly not the original Mystery Man, Mr. Carter. That would have been an amazing twist. “Oh, hi, guys. It’s me, Mr. Carter, JH’s personal uranium hunter and general fixer. I’m just hiding here in the trees masquerading as a cannibal and living in a cave eerily reminiscent of your former home”) when he falls into a giant brush-covered pit. Most people would be alarmed to be trapped in a pit on a remote island possibly populated by cannibals after having run off into the jungle without telling anyone where they were going. Not Benny, though.
“Oh, I seem to have fallen into a deep pit. Lucky it isn’t filled with snakes.”
Okay, I lied. He’s actually glad it’s not full of water, but that’s stupid since water would break the fall and he’d be closer to the top. If he was concerned about crocodiles or piranhas, then yeah, maybe, but just water? Don’t be an idiot, Benny. Fortunately, a shaggy head pops over the rim in just a few minutes.
“Hi, Benny! I’m Peter. I see you’ve fallen into my trap. Instead of just coming out to meet potential rescuers after determining that you weren’t cannibals or rapists, I’ve been watching you from the trees and stealing your food for weeks. Now that I’ve caught you and you seem to be unharmed, it seemed like a good time to introduce myself.”
Most people would be alarmed that they’ve been living in close proximity to a stalkery Peeping Tom-esque thief for the past few weeks, but Benny is totally nonchalant about it. Sneaking Grandfather’s booze is really taking the edge off. Also, what was Peter planning on trapping in this giant hole? Lions? Tigers? Bears? Lars has gone on and on about how there aren’t any dangerous animals on the island, so it seems like a waste of effort to dig the hole. Also, you’d be a sitting duck for predators while you were digging it, so you’d be dead long before the trap became useful if there were any maneaters on the island. Also, what did he dig this huge pit with? Shells? This whole business stinks, and not just because Peter hasn’t had a bath in six months. I’m hypothesizing that Peter, so long removed from social interaction, felt he needed an ice breaker. Walking into their camp and introducing himself was too intimidating, but he felt that greeting them after they fell into a giant hole that he created would be the perfect opportunity to make polite introductions. At least in that scenario, they’d be at his mercy.
Peter and Benny become best friends in a normal, two minute span, and the group leads him back to their huts. Despite being shipwrecked for less than seven months, and only alone for three weeks
(read the rest of the review here: http://rampantreads.wordpress.com/201...)
June 21, 2024
I enjoyed seeing the Boxcar children on the beach again. Another sweet, nostalgic read
October 9, 2014
Really liked this one, it felt more like the first book in the series did.
The Alden's are stranded on a tropical island. They need to get their own food, make their own dishes and even build their own shelters. This was no shipwreck though, they did it on purpose. As always Grandfather knows how his grand-kids love to fend for themselves so this time around he orchestrates a tropical getaway for them. This book is special though because unlike the previous books this time Grandfather Alden comes along for the adventure. After five books of the Grandfather being almost like a part time character it is exciting to have him stick it out for the whole story. Now it is easy to see that this self-sufficiency runs in the family.
One more surprise, on this island the Alden's discover that they are not alone.
The Alden's are stranded on a tropical island. They need to get their own food, make their own dishes and even build their own shelters. This was no shipwreck though, they did it on purpose. As always Grandfather knows how his grand-kids love to fend for themselves so this time around he orchestrates a tropical getaway for them. This book is special though because unlike the previous books this time Grandfather Alden comes along for the adventure. After five books of the Grandfather being almost like a part time character it is exciting to have him stick it out for the whole story. Now it is easy to see that this self-sufficiency runs in the family.
One more surprise, on this island the Alden's discover that they are not alone.
July 9, 2020
It was a struggle for me to get through but my 6 yo liked it so I'm rating it based on his enjoyment.
August 24, 2022
Always enjoy these little mysteries. Needed a book cover with water on it for a challenge and this worked out perfect
September 5, 2025
It’s seems most of these books are getting 5 stars from my kids lately. My son says that he enjoyed the new character that was introduced in the story. My daughter’s favorite part was a talking bird that was discovered by the kids.
March 23, 2021
You did not want to stop reading.😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙂🙂
December 18, 2015
Mrs. Kampf's Reading Small Group:
We loved that it was a mystery, but not too serious of a mystery, it was a lot of fun. It gave lots of clues throughout that allowed the reader to make predictions about what was going to happen. The clues were found in very unusual places. There is a lot of action, such as little Benny falling into a whole! It was definitely a five star mystery because it had a sweet and happy ending. We also enjoyed the climax as it was very exciting. We really loved the setting of this book. After all, who doesn't love a tropical island.
We loved that it was a mystery, but not too serious of a mystery, it was a lot of fun. It gave lots of clues throughout that allowed the reader to make predictions about what was going to happen. The clues were found in very unusual places. There is a lot of action, such as little Benny falling into a whole! It was definitely a five star mystery because it had a sweet and happy ending. We also enjoyed the climax as it was very exciting. We really loved the setting of this book. After all, who doesn't love a tropical island.
July 24, 2021
This is not my favorite Boxcar Children, but they are cute and I loved seeing them on the beach again.
March 25, 2014
the boys loved it. so did i,
September 15, 2022
Well, now it seems dull that there ISN’T an uranium mine for the kids to mess around with.
Gertrude has realized finally if she skips to the summer each book, soon these kids will be 30. (But seriously Henry and Jes have been in high school for at least five years)- so now we are on an adventure during the school year! These kids monitor grandpas emotions like an abused animal so they immediately know something is up. We skim over the fact that grandpa has been regularly writing MIKE of all people (wtf?) and he unfortunately joins the kids. There’s an island, good old dish and food talk (but no bread), found strangers- you know, all the things you look for in the boxcar series. My favorite part has to be when old grandpa tells everyone the stranded Peter probably was so happy because of all the hard work: because as everyone knows, are you really depressed, or are you just bored? Good grief.
Gertrude has realized finally if she skips to the summer each book, soon these kids will be 30. (But seriously Henry and Jes have been in high school for at least five years)- so now we are on an adventure during the school year! These kids monitor grandpas emotions like an abused animal so they immediately know something is up. We skim over the fact that grandpa has been regularly writing MIKE of all people (wtf?) and he unfortunately joins the kids. There’s an island, good old dish and food talk (but no bread), found strangers- you know, all the things you look for in the boxcar series. My favorite part has to be when old grandpa tells everyone the stranded Peter probably was so happy because of all the hard work: because as everyone knows, are you really depressed, or are you just bored? Good grief.
March 15, 2024
Listened in the car with the grands. They loved it!
February 3, 2025
Read aloud
February 14, 2020
This takes place during the school year. The family takes a trip to the South Pacific, near Tahiti. They spend a week on a secluded island with a cousin and a friend of their grandfather's. The mystery involves a shipwreck and a talking bird.
January 23, 2023
I would have truly loved this book as a child. Abby agrees this is one of her favorites in this series.
March 6, 2024
Fun and fast paced, educational
January 7, 2026
Cannibals were mentioned and it was at this point at lost the plot 😂. Think Cast Away but for children and on a third grade reading level.
January 5, 2024
fun book! loved how the siblings explored the island with each other, lars, and their grandfather!! aside from the first book, this is the best of the bunch.
April 21, 2021
I was absolutely obsessed with these books as a kid and rereading them as an adult is just such an experience. They're obviously more on the simplistic side and meant for younger children so I think a lot of the mystery aspects are really obvious to me now but as a kid I clearly found it very engaging. What is really killing me as an adult reader especially in our current time period is how she constantly tries to write the kids as like poor/resourceful with wanting to make their own things and then also super bougie at the same time with their mansion and their rich grandfather etc.
I guess this was written in the 60s so like America still had a middle class at that time but I'm just sitting here now like really? They're going on vacation to an uncharted island? A cargo ship is just gonna drop them off and pick them up because they like them so much? Their school made them custom leather bound lesson books because they're gonna be missing school for weeks? REALLY? Again these things didn't seem weird to me as a kid so I don't think it's going to be an issue of a kid's enjoyment reading this series which is why I still give them 3 stars, but I'm just absolutely fascinated by the choices she continues to make in these books.
I guess this was written in the 60s so like America still had a middle class at that time but I'm just sitting here now like really? They're going on vacation to an uncharted island? A cargo ship is just gonna drop them off and pick them up because they like them so much? Their school made them custom leather bound lesson books because they're gonna be missing school for weeks? REALLY? Again these things didn't seem weird to me as a kid so I don't think it's going to be an issue of a kid's enjoyment reading this series which is why I still give them 3 stars, but I'm just absolutely fascinated by the choices she continues to make in these books.
May 3, 2016
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.
Read
October 5, 2016The alden family go on an adventure that grandfather's friend has been to that they think is now deserted. or so they think. The island seems to be covering a mystery that they need to uncover. And so to speak benny finds something awesome.
At first peter is like a ghost for the alden family. And then they find out that he might be a bird. And then they find out that he's a boy that was deserted on this island to and was occupied by a man and might have lost his family on the boat wreck. And they found out that peter has the last name as benny's teacher but there not relatives.
My thoughts on this book is I really liked it it was good from the start. and in my opinion it was better than the others. and i really suggest it to people. The thoughts I had when I first started reading it was oh it's just another box car book. I liked it when I found out it was so exciting.
At first peter is like a ghost for the alden family. And then they find out that he might be a bird. And then they find out that he's a boy that was deserted on this island to and was occupied by a man and might have lost his family on the boat wreck. And they found out that peter has the last name as benny's teacher but there not relatives.
My thoughts on this book is I really liked it it was good from the start. and in my opinion it was better than the others. and i really suggest it to people. The thoughts I had when I first started reading it was oh it's just another box car book. I liked it when I found out it was so exciting.
November 23, 2015
For those just tuning in, I am reading this classic children's series free on Kindle Unlimited.
In this installment, the children's fabulously wealthy grandfather takes them and Benny's friend Mike to vacation on an uncharted island with a sailor named Lars who had been shipwrecked there three years ago.
Because this is the 1950s and it is a series for children, no one gets eaten by sharks and Lars is a good role model for the children. The book like all books in the series emphasizes the value of hard work and independence.
A little mystery and adventure and 50s family fun, though today's kids would likely still enjoy it. I'm liking the series enough to keep reading, though I wish I'd have read them as a kid to get the full experience.
In this installment, the children's fabulously wealthy grandfather takes them and Benny's friend Mike to vacation on an uncharted island with a sailor named Lars who had been shipwrecked there three years ago.
Because this is the 1950s and it is a series for children, no one gets eaten by sharks and Lars is a good role model for the children. The book like all books in the series emphasizes the value of hard work and independence.
A little mystery and adventure and 50s family fun, though today's kids would likely still enjoy it. I'm liking the series enough to keep reading, though I wish I'd have read them as a kid to get the full experience.
June 12, 2015
I really like the wholesomeness of this book series and the kindness, respect and politeness the characters demonstrate towards one another. This particular book is about another one of the adventures the family goes on to what they believe to be a deserted island. They bring some provisions but plan on using what they can find (i.e. stones for plates, etc.) during their explorations. A few mysterious events happen which lead the family to believe they may not be alone on the island. Benny discovers they are, in fact, not alone and the family works together to provide assistance to an individual in need.
December 18, 2015
Blue Bay Mystery
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Throughout this book Henry, Violet, Jessie, and little Benny go to a island. The island has no population on it and it is a relaxing vacation. So they thought.... Until they find out that there is more than just them on the island.
This book is exciting when, Benny finds out that there is a little boy on the island and he is standing right in front of Benny. It is happy when Henry, Violet, Jessie, and Benny find the little boy's parents, back on the main land. This book is recommended to middle schoolers because the characters in theese books are middle school age kids.
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Throughout this book Henry, Violet, Jessie, and little Benny go to a island. The island has no population on it and it is a relaxing vacation. So they thought.... Until they find out that there is more than just them on the island.
This book is exciting when, Benny finds out that there is a little boy on the island and he is standing right in front of Benny. It is happy when Henry, Violet, Jessie, and Benny find the little boy's parents, back on the main land. This book is recommended to middle schoolers because the characters in theese books are middle school age kids.
December 6, 2007
I did not really like this book because benny, henery, mike and the rest of there family go to this island that there friend lars was stranded on before. There is a mystery to be solved on the island and they love solving mysterys.
November 4, 2015
Good introduction for children to the ecosystem of the South Seas. This seemed to have a darker tone than a lot of the Boxcar Children books, but finished on a high note. (And for once, Benny had something more to say than that he was hungry.)
July 5, 2017
The Aldens and Mike Wood get to have an island vacation. It's not really a mystery, more of a bonding experience mixed with a coincidence. (It's still fun though.)
July 7, 2020
This one really inspired some creativity in my daughter who has been talking about islands and being stranded and survival etc.
January 14, 2020
I received a 30 book box set of these for Christmas. Re-reading them is like paying a visit to one of the best parts of my childhood.
March 10, 2020
I thought it was so-so but I can see where young children would enjoy it. Desert islands are always fun and adventuresome. But after 6 months would you really forget so much?
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