The Boxcar Children, 60th Anniversary Edition (1950 original; edició 2002)

Check out my review at: http://www.shannonsbookbag.blogspot.com/2012/06/various-childrens-books-various-... ( )

Orphaned children terrified of being sent to live with a nasty grandfather instead run away and end up taking shelter in basically a shipping container in the woods. Faced with starvation the eldest, a 13-year-old boy, seeks work in the nearest township and this source of child labour is readily exploited by a local doctor. His 12-year-old sister meanwhile scavenges in a nearby rubbish dump in order to make a semblance of home - and school! - for her younger siblings. Inevitably however this highly suboptimal way of living leads to the 10-year-old falling dangerously ill.

The moral of the story of course is that no matter how badly off you are, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is fun and surprisingly easy, and if you're ever in any real danger not to worry, that's when your rich relative will appear to save you all.

Would definitely appeal to children and also everyone who'd much rather play housekeeping sim games than do actual housekeeping; is a terrible example for anyone who'll ever have any influence on social policy. ( )

A lovely story about four runaway children, nicely narrated by Hannah Mary.

You can find this at https://librivox.org/the-box-car-children-version-2-by-gertrude-chandler-warner/ ( )

One of my favorite books from childhood! To this day, I think I am still trying to create that adventure of making a home. AND I think I only had the first book. Love. ( )

What a fun reread! It was every bit as delightful as I remembered. Didactic yet utterly charming. The fierce independence of the Alden children is fantastic. There's also a humor element in the absurdity of it all that wasn't there for me as a child. ( )