The Skeleton Key Mystery

The Boxcar Children #156

by Gertrude Chandler Warner (Creator), Anthony VanArsdale (Illustrations)

The Aldens are visiting a small town known for its fall festival, and while Grandfather is off taking in the fall colors, the children try out the town’s newest attraction―a Halloween escape room! The Aldens love solving the puzzles to get out of the room, and they don’t mind the spooky theme. The problem is, someone―or something―is making things downright scary for other customers!

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Chapter Books, Audiobook

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2020

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

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who's bones are in the graveyard? And who is making the scratchy sound?🤔

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a child, The Boxcar Children was one of my favorites. The children are adventurous, courageous, and confident. Unfortunately, that is not the case her. The characters have for some reason been "dumbed down" — and so has the mystery. Gertrude Chandler Warner, the creator of these characters may well be spinning in her grave at what has been done with them.

[Joseph D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 156 of the Boxcar Children series. This time it is Halloween and it kicks is in an escape room. However, things take a scary turn when people start getting frightened away for the escape room. Intermixed in the mystery is a corn maze that is strangely similar to the escape room. Not to worry, the Alden kids are on the case. ​

Joseph McKnight
http://www.josephmcknight.com

[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.

[K.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very similar to the Corn Maze Mystery and the Headless Horseman one. Someone is sabotaging Maru's new tourist attraction, an escape room. Far too similar to some of the other books

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

it had some long scary parts and my favorite part was when they found the bones in the graveyard

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up a Halloween trilogy of Boxcar Children books at the library just for fun, but I had so much fun reading them that I decided to get more!

[Charles Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

84%

The escape room sounds really fun! HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN THIS AGE?! WHAT IS GOING ON???

[V. Arrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very spoopy and cozy.

[Penny Evenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for part of a reading challenge for our local library. Great plot and loved how the kids solved the mystery!

[Sue Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the book
love all the stories
a favorite childhood book always

[Brynja · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought the farmer whatever-his-name-is had something to do with it.