The Clue in the Corn Maze

The Boxcar Children #101

by Gertrude Chandler Warner, Robert Papp (Illustrator)

The Aldens find themselves right in the middle of an Iowa cornfield and a brand-new mystery! The farm where the children are visiting is famous for its wonderful corn maze, and every year visitors come to walk through the maze and enjoy the Corn King Days festival. But the maze is being vandalized at night, and the festival is in danger of being shut down. Can the children catch the culprit and save the festival?

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Chapter Books

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Gertrude 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/...

Reviews

[Janete on hiatus due health issues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scribd's text and audiobook. I'm trying to get to my 2020 Reading Challenge goal and improve more and more my English learning through these easy children's books of 'The Boxcar Children'. This book was only OK for me! Synopsys: "The Aldens find themselves right in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. The farm where the children are visiting is famous for its wonderful corn maze. But the maze is being vandalized at night, and the festival is in danger of being shut down."

[Katja Labonté · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars & 3/10 hearts. I sense a pattern in the Boxcar Children books—multiple suspects all more or less equally suspicious + a scary situation that turns out totally harmless.

It was a very simple story, even more so than The Mystery of the Singing Ghost, which is the one I just read. It was sad to see Ken’s family so “bickery,” but I quite liked the Aldens—very good children they are. I did find the story became a little frightening and might be a little too intense for younger/more sensitive readers, but ending was a happy wrap-up.

[Allyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the part where Ken decides to make a boxcar maze in honor of the boxcar children coming to help him.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Clue in the Corn Maze" is an awesome book full of mystery and adventure! The Alden kids go to visit a farm in Iowa, and guess what? They find themselves right in the middle of a super cool corn maze mystery!

The farm they're visiting has this amazing corn maze that people love to explore during the Corn King Days festival. But uh-oh, someone's been messing with the maze at night! The festival might have to shut down if they don't figure out who's behind the mischief. Can the Alden kids solve the mystery and save the day?

I loved this book because it's so exciting! The Aldens have to follow clues and use their detective skills to catch the culprit. And the best part is, you feel like you're right there with them, wandering through the corn maze and trying to uncover the truth.

Plus, there's lots of fun stuff happening at the festival, like games and rides. It made me wish I could visit a real Corn King Days festival too!

If you like mysteries and adventures, "The Clue in the Corn Maze" is the perfect book for you! Get ready for twists, turns, and a whole lot of fun with the Alden kids!

[Yurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part, this is the usual fare you would expect from a deeply American child detective series. I appreciated that the children characters, while being perfect little siblings, still manage to push the plot forward. Ken and the grandfather character stood out to me. Ken is a farmer who loves to cook and bake for the kids, and Grandfather is a farmer and attentive single(?) parent. both spend a good chunk of the novel hanging out and doing chores around the house together, and the biggest problem in their lives right now is literal mess. These male characters who are domestically inclined but rugged, and they are never explicitly coded as feminine. the only woman in the entire book turns out to be the criminal, and she is pitiable. I think there is an interesting sort of contempt/indifference here to literal women, simultaneous with advocacy for the importance of a bunch of traits (forgiveness, compassion, cleanliness, community-mindedness, gentleness, etc.) that are usually feminine-coded.

[Kasey Loftis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book for the fall and Halloween season and I am still loving all these nostalgic memories of the Boxcar children. However, after having just read The Pumpkin Head mystery, these books are crazy similar. Somebody is wanting to buy the farm the kids are visiting and someone is trying to vandalize the farms. I'm happy that there are a few Halloween/fall themed books. It would be great if they had some Christmas ones and not just winter ones.

[Gylfie Whitneyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Aldens have done it again- they solved another mystery! This time in Iowa, in a corn maze owned by Grandfather's friend Ken. When someone started destroying Ken's maze, the Boxcar Children stepped in to help. And solved the mystery!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice book for kids, solving a mystery, learning about people’s motivations and how to get along, as well as a fond reminder of the fun of corn mazes. We bought this book at Connor Prairie after going through their maze last fall.

[Cherish Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4☆ Would recommend)
I loved these books as a kid & I'm really enjoying reading through the series again. I liked the mystery & the suspense. I like how there is more than one possible suspect, who each have reasonable motive. Would recommend.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A little scary."

"I love mysteries. I like haunted places because I like scary stuff. I love hidden pathway, castle, and hidden object."

[Charles Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

84%

It was cool to think about and learn a little bit about crafting a corn maze. Agriculture is awesome!

[Ted Chan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Completely absurd, maddening, and non-sensical ending.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this one and it was hard to guess the culprit!

[Hattie Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so impressed that a kids book can add such suspense, yet still be so simple and wholesome.
My kiddo is 5 and he learned a new word, "anticipation!" He has lots of anticipation when he reads this book with me. Excited but also scared for what's next!
We liked it.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone cut down half of the corn maze and they said there would be trouble, but there wasn’t. It wasn’t super exciting.

[Hope Elias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Boxcar Children book that I have read in over 13 years. I read it for the reading challenge I'm doing this summer to finish a book in each state of America. This was my pick for Iowa.

It had such wonderful fall vibes! I went to corn mazes as a kid so there was definitely some nice nostalgia reading this. The mystery was interesting. And I liked learning a bit about Iowa.

[Jessica Wenninger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book because it brought back the memories of when I read these books as an elementary student. This book is about the boxcar children and their grandfather solving the mystery of who is messing with the farm of the grandfather's old friend. The children spend the time they have on the farm helping to fix the corn maze and trying to figure out who is messing with it. I really liked the plot and the characters that were present in this mystery.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 101 of the Boxcar Children series. A fun mystery out on the farm. If you’ve ever been to a corn maze you’ll enjoy this one. There is a vandal loose trying to stop the festival. Super great red herrings and a good ending. This book is appropriate for those young readers who could read it and if timed right could go visit a maze and find a love for this fantastic chance to learn about farms. ​

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Aldens find themselves right in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. The farm where the children are visiting is famous for its wonderful corn maze. But the maze is being vandalized at night, and the festival is in danger of being shut down.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that there was a maze and there were three different things wrong in the corn maze.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

great when ur little