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The Boxcar Children Special #3
The Mystery at Snowflake Inn
Grandfather is taking everyone on a special holiday trip to an old-fashioned New England inn. The Aldens have fun playing in the snow, ice-skating, and working puzzles. Then mysterious things start to happen at the inn, and the owner worries he'll have to shut down. Can the Boxcar Children find the culprit, or will their winter vacation be cut short?
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Gertrude Chandler Warner
511 books723 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 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 31, 2016
The Boxcar children are on vacation to the Snowflake Inn. Strange things are happening. Someone is breaking the windows and blocking the fireplace and putting water on the wood. The
Boxcar children have to figure out who is trying to shut down the old inn.
Boxcar children have to figure out who is trying to shut down the old inn.
December 19, 2022
Even though it's 100 pages and big ole print, it's so cozy and classic and brings back much nostalgia. 😉
May 27, 2016
I love this series...it is a good mystery series to read especially for young children...this series is a good clean fun mystery to read. I give this book 5/5 Stars here on Goodreads. I love reading these type of Young Children's Books.
February 20, 2024
It was good. Not as good as the first or second ones. But it was good.
December 27, 2024
I needed a quick read aloud for my class and I wanted something Christmassy. My class wasn’t really that into it. There were too many characters and they couldn’t keep them straight.
July 11, 2019
A children's book but interesting for anyone who wants a quick read. Games and puzzles included in the book.
December 26, 2020
This looked like a cute holiday read, but it ended up being disappointing.
The grandfather is referenced as grandpa and also James, making it confusing.
It was cool how they hid colonial spies in a hidden nook in the Snowflake Inn. Americans would sneak secret messages through British lines. The coded messages told colonial forces about their enemies troop enemies and the size of their regiments. When the spies were sometimes betrayed, they had to flee the Redcoats. If caught, they would have been shot as traitors.
George Washington, the leasing general for the Americans, stayed at the inn and slept in the bed their grandpa did.
They mentioned Madge Carson, one of the best spies.
‘With some people, no matter how hard you tried, nothing made them happy.’
Madge Carson and her daughter Penelope, lived in Trenton, New Jersey. George Washington’s army was at Valley Forge, across the Delaware River from them.
The British paid German soldiers, called Hessians, to guard Trenton. The troops planned a party and had Madge bring them a dozen chickens. She knew it would be a great time to surprise the enemies while they partied. So she rowed to George Washington across the icy river. They crossed the river and attacked the Hessians.
The Redcoats discovered Madge was missing, & knew she had spies on them. She didn’t go home for this reason, and hid in the woods with her daughter.
She avoided capture because she knew the woods and river. They made it to Bennington, Vermont and were hid by the Ross family, original owners of the Snowflake Inn.
When the British arrived to search for them they hid in the secret room. They ended up going to Maine.
The chapter titles gave away what would happen, which I never like in books.
‘“We think somebody put the mouse in our room.”
“Why would someone do that?” Benny asked.
“Maybe to frighten us,” Jessie said, pausing as she reached for a cookie. “Maybe someone wants us out of here for some reason.”
Benny took a big bite of his chocolate chip cookie. “A little mouse isn’t going to make us leave!”
Chuckling, Henry replied, “That’s right, Benny. Some people, though, are afraid of mice and might have screamed.” He glanced fondly at his sisters. “Whoever it was didn’t know Violet and Jessie.”’
It made no sense how after the stove broke, everyone heads into town, and the owner Ralph goes to the barber shop for an apparent haircut?, while his son Larry takes a husband and wife staying at the inn to see a historic mansion. Shouldn’t the owner and his son be buying the new stove? Grandfather(James Alden) offered to buy one, but was that from his own money or did Ralph pay for it?!
I know the author likes writing the kids as independent and self-sufficient, but the kids' skills were a bit unrealistic at times, like being able to cook a turkey meal. Living on their own in a boxcar doesn’t make them able to cook a Christmas meal. Can you imagine kids cooking a turkey and giblets and all the trimmings? I’m 27 and I’ve never cooked a turkey!
And in the beginning, their grandad complementing Henry on being able to read a map and him knowing he should be able to at 14...boy things have changed!
The drawing of Benny emerging from the secret room was creepy. His heads tilted and eyes wide.
This was not interesting. The ‘mystery’ element was barely there. Not much of a mystery at all. It was clear it was a human doing these things. Also pretty clear who it was! It could only have been a few people. And the person it ends up being was completely predictable.
She just tells on herself & all is forgiven. So the Aldens didn’t solve the mystery.
Then at the end somehow Larry finally sees the inn is charming in its historicalness. And Ralph realizes he needs to compromise & they can meet in the middle. How did they reach this decision?
It had nothing to offer besides the historical details of the inn and George Washington. Not one of their better ones.
Another disappointing read in this series, though The Mystery of the Lost Village I read last month was a little better.
The activities at the end were cute, a word search, connect the dots, piece it together pictures, sing alongs, memorize them picture, coloring page, and then recipes for popcorn balls, maple ice, bird feeder, snow paintings, a boxcar box. Some kid filled out most of them, though this is a library copy, but it’ll be good for a kid with their own copy to have something to do on a winter day stuck inside.
The grandfather is referenced as grandpa and also James, making it confusing.
It was cool how they hid colonial spies in a hidden nook in the Snowflake Inn. Americans would sneak secret messages through British lines. The coded messages told colonial forces about their enemies troop enemies and the size of their regiments. When the spies were sometimes betrayed, they had to flee the Redcoats. If caught, they would have been shot as traitors.
George Washington, the leasing general for the Americans, stayed at the inn and slept in the bed their grandpa did.
They mentioned Madge Carson, one of the best spies.
‘With some people, no matter how hard you tried, nothing made them happy.’
Madge Carson and her daughter Penelope, lived in Trenton, New Jersey. George Washington’s army was at Valley Forge, across the Delaware River from them.
The British paid German soldiers, called Hessians, to guard Trenton. The troops planned a party and had Madge bring them a dozen chickens. She knew it would be a great time to surprise the enemies while they partied. So she rowed to George Washington across the icy river. They crossed the river and attacked the Hessians.
The Redcoats discovered Madge was missing, & knew she had spies on them. She didn’t go home for this reason, and hid in the woods with her daughter.
She avoided capture because she knew the woods and river. They made it to Bennington, Vermont and were hid by the Ross family, original owners of the Snowflake Inn.
When the British arrived to search for them they hid in the secret room. They ended up going to Maine.
The chapter titles gave away what would happen, which I never like in books.
‘“We think somebody put the mouse in our room.”
“Why would someone do that?” Benny asked.
“Maybe to frighten us,” Jessie said, pausing as she reached for a cookie. “Maybe someone wants us out of here for some reason.”
Benny took a big bite of his chocolate chip cookie. “A little mouse isn’t going to make us leave!”
Chuckling, Henry replied, “That’s right, Benny. Some people, though, are afraid of mice and might have screamed.” He glanced fondly at his sisters. “Whoever it was didn’t know Violet and Jessie.”’
It made no sense how after the stove broke, everyone heads into town, and the owner Ralph goes to the barber shop for an apparent haircut?, while his son Larry takes a husband and wife staying at the inn to see a historic mansion. Shouldn’t the owner and his son be buying the new stove? Grandfather(James Alden) offered to buy one, but was that from his own money or did Ralph pay for it?!
I know the author likes writing the kids as independent and self-sufficient, but the kids' skills were a bit unrealistic at times, like being able to cook a turkey meal. Living on their own in a boxcar doesn’t make them able to cook a Christmas meal. Can you imagine kids cooking a turkey and giblets and all the trimmings? I’m 27 and I’ve never cooked a turkey!
And in the beginning, their grandad complementing Henry on being able to read a map and him knowing he should be able to at 14...boy things have changed!
The drawing of Benny emerging from the secret room was creepy. His heads tilted and eyes wide.
This was not interesting. The ‘mystery’ element was barely there. Not much of a mystery at all. It was clear it was a human doing these things. Also pretty clear who it was! It could only have been a few people. And the person it ends up being was completely predictable.
She just tells on herself & all is forgiven. So the Aldens didn’t solve the mystery.
Then at the end somehow Larry finally sees the inn is charming in its historicalness. And Ralph realizes he needs to compromise & they can meet in the middle. How did they reach this decision?
It had nothing to offer besides the historical details of the inn and George Washington. Not one of their better ones.
Another disappointing read in this series, though The Mystery of the Lost Village I read last month was a little better.
The activities at the end were cute, a word search, connect the dots, piece it together pictures, sing alongs, memorize them picture, coloring page, and then recipes for popcorn balls, maple ice, bird feeder, snow paintings, a boxcar box. Some kid filled out most of them, though this is a library copy, but it’ll be good for a kid with their own copy to have something to do on a winter day stuck inside.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2017
Part of the problem is probably just that I'm outside the targeted age group, but the characters just read as incredibly wooden to me. The mystery was also pretty boring, but if that had been the only problem, I would have been willing to forgive it because of the aforementioned outside-demographic issue. I got through it because it was easy to read and available for free, but I definitely wouldn't go out of my way to read any others in this series.
January 4, 2023
Good book for young readers who like detective novels. It took couple of chapters for me to get hold of all the characters. Though the book is 100 pages, with bigger font and pictures it looks more like a 70 to 80 page one.
January 10, 2025
Halfway through the book I had a VISCERAL memory of reading it as a kid, but had no plot memory at all. Also, I had hoped for a blizzard to trap them in the inn, but I think that was expecting too much.
February 28, 2018
my favorite character was Benny cause he loves to eat like me
nothing surprised me
i would not change the ending
nothing surprised me
i would not change the ending
April 19, 2018
Lizzie: I liked how this one had a lot of history in it.
January 30, 2019
Great book for third grade
It was a great book for a read aloud in my Third Grade Class. The class really enjoy the story.
It was a great book for a read aloud in my Third Grade Class. The class really enjoy the story.
December 27, 2019
I read this a LONG time ago when I was a child. I still remember it though. I will have my daughter read this as well!
December 10, 2024
Love the boxcar children. Much nostalgia for me.
December 30, 2024
Loved reading these books as a kid, love rereading them with my kid!
April 7, 2020
Couldn't believe Betsy did it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2016
The Mystery at Snowflake Inn
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Benny, Jessie, Violet, Henry and Mr. Alden all went to Snowflake Inn for a family vacation. But they didn't know that while they were there they would have to solve a mystery. A person at Snowflake inn has been causing destruction. They have been letting the horses out, breaking windows, unplugging the fridge and many more. But the Alden children sneak around trying to find out who is this mystery person. At then end they discover that the mystery person is the owner of the inn's niece.
This book was exciting when Benny was crawling in secret rooms trying to figure out who the person was. Also it was exciting when the kids figured out that it was Betty, the niece. The book was relieving when betty confessed to all the things she had done to he inn.
I recommend this book to Middle Schoolers who like fun and exciting mysteries. I would recommend it for Middle Schoolers because most of the words in this book would be too big for elementary school kids.
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Benny, Jessie, Violet, Henry and Mr. Alden all went to Snowflake Inn for a family vacation. But they didn't know that while they were there they would have to solve a mystery. A person at Snowflake inn has been causing destruction. They have been letting the horses out, breaking windows, unplugging the fridge and many more. But the Alden children sneak around trying to find out who is this mystery person. At then end they discover that the mystery person is the owner of the inn's niece.
This book was exciting when Benny was crawling in secret rooms trying to figure out who the person was. Also it was exciting when the kids figured out that it was Betty, the niece. The book was relieving when betty confessed to all the things she had done to he inn.
I recommend this book to Middle Schoolers who like fun and exciting mysteries. I would recommend it for Middle Schoolers because most of the words in this book would be too big for elementary school kids.
February 12, 2011
I just loved this book. It made me currious who had done it. I was a little upset that I found out it was someone else who did the mischeif. I was hoping it was the grandson. I was thinking he did it because everything was so old fashioned. It was just to much. I was so excited though when they find out who really did it.
January 13, 2014
Just finished this with my 4 year old. We've enjoyed this series. They keep his attention and he's interested in the characters. This was a cute one about someone trying to close down an Inn that the family is staying in. The boys and girls have to solve the mystery!
May 2, 2009
I think ive read it. know I at least had it.
August 21, 2009
great when ur little
May 23, 2011
It was a great mystery! It is so cook!
June 13, 2014
I loved this book. I would recommend this book for 8-12 year olds.
I could not put it down.
I could not put it down.
September 2, 2015
Check out my review at www.thespellboundreadersbookshelf.blo...
July 11, 2016
I read this book in order to set up a Reading class unit on the Boxcar Children. It was a cute story, and is written in a way that makes creating lessons easy.
October 12, 2019
Delightful Christmas story with a mystery.
July 14, 2008
THis rating is from when I was little.
Read
March 14, 2015One of my favorite childhood series. I read whatever book I could get my hands on :)
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews