Surprise Island: Boxcar Children #2

I never read the Boxcar Children as a child, but I really wish I had. Ivy just adores the resourcefulness of these children. Each book is a mystery, but the mystery is not as important as how the children are able to survive on their own. Ivy loves to think of the talents of each of the young heroines. Henry is the builder, Jessie is the cook, Violet the musician/artist, and Benny is the finder of childhood fun. One of her favorite games is to play the Boxcar Children. Atticus is, of course, Benny. I am Jessie, and Ivy is Violet. Matt is Henry, who is often away building something or foraging for food. In this book, the children are left to summer alone on Surprise Island. They befriend the handyman, Joe, but there is something special about him that makes the children think he is more than he appears to be. Also, the children have discovered numerous Native American artifacts while on the island. If they let the public know, will Surprise Island be overrun with curious tourists? Read to find out more about the Boxcar Children in this Gertrude Chandler Warner classic. 

The Boxcar Children

Ivy seems to have graduated from picture books at the ripe old age of 4.5. As saddened as I am by this, I am thrilled to begin the next phase. I never read the Boxcar Children when I was young, but I wish I had. Both of us just adored the first one in the series. One of the reasons why I think we both like it, is that there is no magic, only the magic the kids make when they have to survive on their own. The children, recently orphaned, only have themselves to rely on. After the death of their parents, they run away, after hearing they might have to live with their estranged grandfather who never accepted their mother. They have no money, and eventually settle in an old boxcar. Henry, the oldest, finds work doing odds and ends for a local doctor. They find an old dump and set up their new home. In the process, the children find they are not as alone as they might think. We read the whole thing in two days. We already checked the second out!