The Mystery in the Computer Game

The Boxcar Children #78

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

In this unabridged series, you will meet Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny Alden, who once lived in a boxcar, but now live with their grandfather in Greenfield. Their many adventures always land them in the middle of mystery and intrigue!

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

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 2000

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

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was fun to read to the family in the same way that watching B-movies is fun to do with a group of friends: it's so bad, it's good. We enjoyed laughing at the absurd dialog and convoluted "plot". It livened up bedtime stories - especially since we're interleaving it with chapters of Dickens' Great Expectations, which occupies a completely different part of the multiverse in terms of reading comprehension. (Update: we did not finish Great Expectations. It started well, but eventually bored the kids.)

[Chloe]

No rating

First sentence:

Chapter 1
Trolls and Trouble

One rainy day, the third one in a row, the four Alden children and their cousin, Soo Lee, gathered around the family computer.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute, quick read about some smart children who wanted to become ringmasters in a video game. Turns out the grandpa knew they were the creator of the game, and the creator wanted them to test run the second game to make sure it was easy for children to play. In order to do that they needed a new computer, so the company provided them one. However, one of the employees set up their own lies in the computer for the children to find. The employee knew the boss would never believe him, so let the kids have it. In the end, the kids did unravel all the clues, and the person who was behind some sketchy things was fired.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good not the best but still good. I recommend it.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

great when ur little

[Charles Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

83%

Are they immortal or time travelers?

[Veronica Molina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encontré a mí misma queriendo saber cómo seguía la historia y sin querer dejar de leer. No veo motivos para ponerle menos estrellas considerando su género y el público que entiendo objetivo.
Lo pasé bien leyendo, quise ir anticipándome y me sentí invitada a explorar este mundo de misterio que no mira a los niños en menos por ser niños. Bien entretenido.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 78 of the Boxcar Children. Leave it to the Alden children to take a simple computer game and find wrongdoing. So, it is a little deeper than just the computer game. But still an excellent mystery that leads us on a chase to not only figure out who the bad guy is but what exactly they are up to. I do recommend this one. ​

Joseph McKnight
http://www.Josephmcknight.com

[Cherish Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

(5☆ Would recommend & would read again)
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. This book had a fantastic story arch. Would recommend.

[Alcaria · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remember reading this when I was younger, and the story was disappointing. The plot was clearly written by someone who did not actually understand videogames. Honestly, the series should have ended with Gertrude.

[Kara Kuehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. The reasons I didn't give it 5 stars:
1. I didn't like the "spells" at the beginning.
2. I was a bit confused as to when Soo Lee was there and when she wasn't.
Other than that, this book was very enjoyable.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, its a winner. Age 8 and 10 yo kids love these books.

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great addition to the series.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an okay juvenile mystery. A silly plot to be enjoyed by kids.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read four Boxcar Children as an adult, and this was definitely my least favorite. A) anytime you build a book around a piece of technology, it’s going to date so fast. B) I didn’t love the focus on the computer game. Granted, it was written nearly 25 years ago, so tech wasn’t as accessible as it is now, but I feel like a novel about a computer game is kind of self defeating. C) Didn’t love the spells aspect in the game.

Having said that, it was a creative mystery, but I think they tried a little too hard with this one.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rockin' It was so awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Samantha Li · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite Boxcar books :)

[Benjamin Lazzaro · Rating 1 out of 5]

ech.

[Y · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of weird for a BCC mystery, but it was nice to see that the book didn't take the opportunity to vilify video/computer games.

[Melenia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best one

[Stacie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kids get to try a new game that isn't out yet.... can you guess what goes wrong? Yep, a mystery is involved and the game has clues that they follow.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was the best suspense full mystery