The classic children's book series The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner was added to the Amazon Kindle store on December 14, 2010. There are 19 mysteries in the original collection of The Boxcar Children series, and the books are $3.99. The first book has a promotional price for a limited time.
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The reviews of The Boxcar Children on Amazon.com have a common theme demonstrating how beloved Gertrude Chandler Warner's 1942 book is. "As a young child in grade school this was one of the first books I read," wrote Amazon user Jessie Smith. Smith is not alone in remembering The Boxcar Children as an elementary school classic; even in the summer, kids would wait impatiently for the next Boxcar book. Amazon customer Hermit sums up the anticipation of waiting for the later Boxcar Children books by recalling that he "would ride my bike 5 miles each way to the library just so I could check out the next book in the series."
In The Boxcar Children, the Alden family orphans decide that living independently together is better than the prospect of living apart or living with unkind relatives, so they make their home in an abandoned box car. They are protected by their oldest brother, Henry, and their dog, Watch. Much like Nana in Peter Pan, Watch is a true friend and protector to the children throughout the series. The first Kindle book in the Boxcar series is $1.99, but Amazon's announcement indicates that the price is just for a promotional time period.
The Boxcar Children Kindle eBooks
Amazon's December 14, 2010 blog post about The Boxcar Children says that, "Whatever mystery you choose to solve with the Aldens, all nineteen titles are filled with the excitement and suspense for which this classic series is dearly loved." This indicates that the Kindle books are just the original books in the Boxcar series. Publisher Albert Whitman & Company continued to publish the series into the 21 century, although Gertrude Chandler Warner died in 1979. The most recent title, The Black Widow Spider Mystery:Boxcar Children Special, was published in 2003 and lists Warner as the creator of the series.
The 19 original Boxcar books in the Kindle store were added on December 14, 2010, and although the series was originally published by Scott Foresman and Company, the ebooks are published by Albert Whitman & Company. For true Boxcar Children fans, there is an even older original book that was published; in 1924, Rand McNally published the first version of The Boxcar Children.
Sources
Amazon.com customer review comments were accessed on December 15, 2010 on the Boxcar Children Mysteries: Book One page.
Amazon.com's Kindle Blog post "New to Kindle: The Boxcar Children Mysteries" was published on December 14, 2010.
The Kindle Editions of The Boxcar Children was published by Albert Whitman & Company on December 14, 2010. The Kindle ebooks are provided by Amazon Digital Services. The ASIN for the first Boxcar Children book is B004EBTA34.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
