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Title: Journey on a Runaway Train
Subtitle: The Boxcar Children Great Adventure, Book 1
Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner, Dee Garretson, JM Lee
Narrator: Aimee Lilly
Format: Unabridged
Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
Language: English
Release date: 01-31-17
Publisher: Oasis Audio
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 27 votes
Genres: Kids, Ages 8-10
Publisher's Summary:
Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny didn't think the old trunk in their house held anything interesting. But an unusual statue they find inside leads them to the Reddimus Society, a secret guild dedicated to returning lost treasures to where they belong.
Now the Aldens must help their new friends by traveling across the country with the statue and six mysterious boxes! Can the Boxcar Children keep these seven treasures out of the wrong hands?
Members Reviews:
Five Stars
Bought this for my 6year old and she loves it . Spends hours listening to it.
A Fine Addition to the Boxcar Canon
The first 19 Boxcar Children books were actually written by Gertrude Warner, (the first one in 1924, then 18 more between 1949 and 1976). After that, like The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and the like, the books were written by other authors, but always identified as "Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner". In total there are about 145 Boxcar Children Mysteries, and over 20 "Specials". The four kids have never aged, although their adventures have been brought up from the 1920's to modern times. Anyway, Albert Whitman & Company, which appears to have been the caretaker of the series since the first book was reissued in 1942, has come up with a brand new five volume "Great Adventure" set, of which this is the first volume.
The premise here is that the Boxcar Children, (the four Alden siblings), have been recruited by a secret society to return lost artifacts to their rightful original homes. To do that they'll have to travel all over the world, being guided and supported by the secret society and its global network of agents. The upshot is that the Aldens get to travel, (along with the reader), to exotic foreign locations in the company of a few fun recurring characters and a wide range of one-time guest agents. They also learn a bit about the artifacts they handle. This really opens up the series, and who doesn't like world travel and shady global conspiracies?
This first volume is the tamest of the five, because the premise has to be set up. While still at home, the Aldens have to come to grips with a few small mysteries and solve some puzzles in order to earn the trust of the society. Then it's off to Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico to return an item. By the end they are being pointed to their next, more exotic, destination. This is whirlwind plotting and pacing, with lots of lurking and eavesdropping and clue finding and problem solving and bad guys, (there are always bad guys), and some avoiding and escaping.
This version of the Boxcar Children is fresh and modern. We're in a world of laptops, WiFi and GPS. The boys and girls are equal players, and since the books are new you don't encounter those awkward bits of old-fashioned nonsense that you sometimes have to overlook when revisiting other older adventure series. The writing is crisp and direct and clearly aimed at younger readers. A nice touch is that the older kids often explain more advanced words, references, and historical bits to the youngest Alden, Benny, and these explanations, of course, are also intended to help younger readers follow what's happening. That sort of in-book annotating struck me as a nice touch.
In any event, though, the bottom line is that the books are fun, fast paced, clever, and entertaining.
