The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm (The Boxcar Children, #0.5) by Patricia MacLachlan

The Boxcar Children Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm (The Boxcar Children, #0.5) Reviews

• 
  Faith

  I knew it was coming and I still cried... <3
• 
  Paul Hankins

  Henry. Jessie, Violet. Bennie.
  
  Their Mama once told them they were the best family of all. . .
  
  The Boxcar Children.
  
  While Gertrude Chandler Warner only wrote nineteen of the original Boxcar Children books, the other books--numbering over one hundred titles--always pay respects back to the creator, a first grade teacher/writer.
  
  Patricia MacLachlan (1986 Newbery Winner SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL) gently--tenderly--drafts the prequel to the stories that will set the four children out to begin their adventures.
  
  We get to meet their mother and father and we get to spend some time on Fair Meadow Farm where friends are taken in, makeshift circuses entertain the family and neighbors, and familial love and admiration (with all of its inside experiences that solidify the bonds of family members)are all part of the experience.
  
  The prequel serves as a nice introduction to the series for a new generation of readers and older readers/fans will appreciate MacLachlan's attention to the tradition of the stories.
  
  Wonderfully suited for younger readers, The Boxcar Children books are a return to a simpler time, but even more than this, the prequel will afford in introduction into a series of books wherein younger readers can make a quick--and ultimately sustained and consistent--relationship with the endearing characters.
  
  No spoiler for fans of the series, but the sequel will have to set the children apart from family in order to go out alone and to eventually meet their grandfather. The scene is rendered quickly, but this might require some navigation with younger readers with a reader advisor in the room. As the children prepare to leave their farm, there are some promises made between the children that may be tender for younger audiences, but as the book is written specifically for them, I sense that older readers will have more emotive episodes over these scenes than the newer readers into the series.
  
  I got to read the NetGalley edition of this prequel. The artwork was not finished yet, but it looks like the artwork will lend nicely to the overall feel of the book. The hardback release promises and extended afterward from MacLachlan as well as "teaser" pages from the first book, which younger readers will want after finishing the prequel.
• 
  Ms. B

  Why are the Boxcar Children so resourceful? Why doesn't their grandfather get along with their parents? What happened to their parents?
  These and many other questions are answered in this prequel to the first Boxcar Children book, The Boxcar Children. Author Patricia MacLachlan does a more than fitting job of providing a back story to the first book.
• 
  Elijah Libert

  This book is a three star book because it was not that good because Benny did not get to have his dog and everyone was going away. It was just a sad book. The end.
• 
  Megan (ReadingRover)

  As a kid I was obsessed with The Boxcar Children so as I was scanning through the library’s audio catalog I saw this and figured I’d give it a try. I didn’t realize when I picked it that it wasn’t the first book in the actual series but a sort of tribute/ prequel written by someone else. (In my defense I was in a bit of a book frenzy!) regardless it brought back that old timey feel and made me yearn for the books I had always loved even more. Thinking back I couldn’t remember what had happened to the kids parents or how they died so it was interesting to read this book. Now I’m ready to dive into the real thick of it in the original series. As I was listening I did feel like the stories were a bit different from what I had originally remembered. Actually, not so much the stories but more the personalities and feelings I got from the kids. They felt different than the originals. Well the stories had a bit of a different feel at first too but I got used to them. They weren’t as exciting. Though heartbreaking the last quarter of the book was the best. Things really picked up because as sad as it was, adventure was on the way. It was like I knew it was a different author who wrote this without consciously knowing beforehand. Or maybe I’m just not a kid anymore. 3.5 stars.
• 
  Tarissa

  I initially heard of the Boxcar Children prequel many months before its publication. As any childhood fan should be, I was intrigued. The unknown awakened my curiosity: Where did those 4 Alden children come from before they arrived in front of the bakery that stormy night? What truly happened to their parents? Why were they so afraid to meet their grandfather? Questions that Gertrude Chandler Warner had left to the reader's imagination. Questions that Patricia MacLachlan has personally attempted to answer.
  
  As books go, it's a good, solid story. I'm not sure if this particular story was meant for the Alden children though. My reason for the previous statement being this: one thing I enjoyed about the Boxcar Children was that the books were timeless in the way of, there are not usually historical facts that pinpoint into which era that the stories take place. The original books were written in the 1940's, and are loosely based on that time period, but this new prequel brings in too much historical information about the Great Depression, more-so than what is denoted in the original books. For that reason, I didn't find the prequel's mood to match up exactly with the series, but I realize that Mrs. MacLachlan's passion is historical fiction, so this factor is at least understandable because of the author's writing style.
  
  Overall, I'm satisfied with this prequel. It fabricated a glimpse of the Alden children's life before we met them in the 1st book of the series---something never seen before. Had it been I to be the person to write a book like this, I would have plotted it differently, certainly. But I appreciate the effort made on Patricia MacLachlan's part to fill a void of questions in children's literature.
  
  Please note, I only would recommend this book to readers who have already consumed several of the other Boxcar Children books, specifically the first 19 that Mrs. Warner herself penned. Enjoy!
• 
  Renata

  First, let me say that my 3-star rating is me as an adult reader. For its actual intended audience it's probably higher.
  
  Second, let me say that recently I have had multiple conversations with adults about how every Boxcar Children book after the 1st one was BS because they no longer lived in a boxcar. The first Boxcar Children book was awesome because it was about homeless children who lived in an abandoned boxcar among woodland creatures. Any Boxcar Children book where they live in a HOUSE is BS, and that includes this one, Patricia MacLachlan!!!
  
  Ahem.
  
  Anyway, it was weird reading this because the kids are as wholesome and happy as ever, but you just KNOW that a shoe is going to drop soon. (No spoiler: the entire series is based on the premise that they are orphans, okay?) Kids who like the original Boxcar Children books will probably like this. Adults seeking some Boxcar Children nostalgia would be better off reading the one single non-BS Boxcar Children book, which is Boxcar Children #1.
• 
  Ellen

  3.5 stars
  
  This has the same tone and feel of the original series, but isn't quite as good as the original Boxcar Children book. Still, an enjoyable, quick read.
  
  
• 
  Katie Fitzgerald

  Long before they become those well-loved orphans living secretly in a boxcar to escape their supposedly evil grandfather, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny live at Meadowview Farm with their parents. In the final year before their parents die, the four kids care for animals, open their home to strangers whose car breaks down during a bad snowstorm, and even put on a free circus for their neighbors to distract them from “hard times.” Above all, even when the inevitable sad ending arrives, they care for and love one another. This book is being published to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the publication of The Boxcar Children.
  
  I had mixed feelings about reading this book, but my curiosity won out over my reservations. Having read many of the original titles as a kid, I found that I really wanted to know what life was like before that opening scene in The Boxcar Children where the four kids stand hungry before the bakery window. I was worried, though, that even the talents of Patricia MacLachlan could not preserve the charm and warmth of the original series. It turns out I was a little bit right about that, but I still wasn’t entirely disappointed.
  
  The first thing I noticed, for better or for worse, is the fact that the writing style in this prequel is clearly that of Patricia MacLachlan. I guess I didn’t really expect her to try imitating Gertrude Chandler Warner, since that would feel even less authentic, but I found the change in voice from the original books to this one to be quite jarring. This is why I think this book should be seen as a tribute or homage to the original author and her narrative world rather than a true part of the series. If this were the first book a child read in the Boxcar Children series, I think that would be too bad and would somehow diminish the overall reading experience.
  
  Once I settled into the story, I became further convinced that this is definitely a book to be read after becoming familiar with the Boxcar Children, not before. There are lots of hints throughout the text to the death of the Alden parents, which I suppose could be seen as foreshadowing, but really won’t have nearly as much meaning for anyone who doesn’t know already how things turn out. There are lots of details, too, that hint at the roles each of the children will play later on in the series, characterizations which on their own are easy to breeze by, but combined with knowledge from the series give the reader a bit of a knowing smile.
  
  On its own, without considering the series as a whole, the book was just okay for me. I felt a strong sense of detachment from the characters, as though I could never really get close enough to them to feel what they were feeling, or worry about what worried them. The tone of the book is very upbeat and positive. Even when “hard times” strike, the Alden family seems to greet them with a smile, always ready for the next challenge. I know some parents will be pleased to have such a wholesome story to share with their kids, but I would argue that it’s even more wholesome than the already tame original series, and that it borders on painfully sweet. I also think the latter half of the book zips by far too quickly, with barely a climax before the denouement and conclusion. I felt like the parents’ death happened mainly because it was supposed to for the sake of continuity, and not because it made any logical sense as an ending to this particular story. I almost think I would have liked it better had MacLachlan stopped short of telling that segment of the story, and just gave us a glimpse into the Alden kids’ lives before becoming orphans.
  
  Finally, it is worth noting that there is no mystery in this book. I found that to be the oddest thing of all, given that it is a mystery series. I was fully expecting there to be some sort of detective work happening on the family farm, but there was none, and that was a disappointment. Kids who read this series for its mysterious storylines might give up on this one early on once they realize how far it deviates from the formula they’re used to.
  
  Recommend The Boxcar Children Beginning to chapter book readers already familiar with the series, and buy copies for nostalgic folks who read the series as kids.
  
• 
  Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all)

  I'm going to go out on an honest limb here and give this book one star, since GR labels one star "did not like it." I wanted to like this book, I really did, in spite of the dreaded fact of yet another "prequel" written by someone many years after the original author's death. Growing up, I only knew of the first "Boxcar Children" book, but I read it again and again after our teacher first read it aloud to us in class at odd moments during the day. I really liked Patricia MacLachlan's "Sarah, Plain and Tall" and found "Baby" to be well-written about such a difficult subject as the loss of a child...but this is not up to Maclachlan's usual standard of writing. The characters that leap off the page in The Boxcar Children are flat, two-dimensional and insipid in Maclachlan's version. I was more strongly reminded of The Bobbsey Twins than the Boxcar kids. Benny in particular is more like a three-year-old than five, even for 1942, with his penchant for one-word comments such as "Cow!" "Cowgirl!" etc--and yet he manages to do what no one else has ever done, teach an old dog new tricks?? Character coherence?
  
  The events are less than believable, even for a second or third-grade novel, particularly such a recently-produced book. Perhaps this is because the writing is so sketchy. The afterword speaks of the Alden children's "full life" and yet we are given no classroom interaction, no other friends than the people who turn up on their doorstep on two occasions. The Alden kids seem never even to have gone to town with their parents--and don't seem curious about it, either! We are asked to accept that the children just walk away, that their adult neighbours allow this, and that they don't seem all that affected by their parents' deaths.
  
  I was doubly surprised at how superficial and unsatisfying this book was, given her sensitive treatment of the themes of death and loss in her other books. Written in 2006...did the author possibly do it for the money? It certainly doesn't seem like a labour of love.
• 
  Nikki in Niagara

  Reason for Reading: I am reading and collecting the first 19 original books by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I usually don't read modern prequels or continuations such as this (I didn't go anywhere near the Anne of Green Gables prequel!) but MacLachlan is a widely respected, award winning author whom I've read before so after a little consideration I thought I would give this a go.
  
  MacLachlan is a good writer who especially does the historical very well. The year is never given, but going from the first BC book, this must be set in the early 40s. These are "hard times" and the Aldens live a simple life and the book tells the daily life of a simple family. There is slight drama to the plot but mostly it is a series of events that lead up to what the reader knows will be coming, the death of their parents and the turning of the children into orphans. This is all dealt with very gently and "not a big deal". No one should come into this book not having read their share of Boxcar Children Mysteries; this story is not to make one sad as one already knows the grand future of these children. MacLachlan has managed to keep Warner's simple style of writing while maintaining a quality work something she is well known for in her original work.
  
  Overall, I didn't really find this story adding anything that needed to be told. It is a simple book, not the beginning of a new series and does not add to the Alden Family canon. I'm sure it will sell well initially, but has nothing to sustain its longevity. A slow, gentle story, without much happening, no mystery and simply a preface to the opening chapter of the original Boxcar Children written in 1942.
• 
  Sarah

  “The Boxcar Children Beginning” by acclaimed children’s author Patricia MacLachlan creates a prequel to Gertrude Chandler Warner’s beloved children’s series. A perennial favorite, the Boxcar Children—Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny—lived with their parents at Fair Meadow Farm before a tragic accident left them to fend for themselves. They were “the best family of all,” working together and helping others through hard times with cheerfulness and kindness. When the Clark family becomes stranded during a snowstorm, the Aldens take them in, and the fun begins. Whether it’s going to school, helping with chores around the farm, or putting on their own circus, the children enjoy life to the fullest. However, MacLachlan’s writing contains foreshadowing of what is to come, and the Alden children’s values and sense of family will be put to the test.
  
  This quaint prequel is illustrated with sketches and includes a black-and-white map on both inside covers. Following the story is the author’s “Afterword: Setting the Scene,” along with an excerpt from the original book “The Boxcar Children” by Gertrude Chandler Warner, resources about the series, and a list of the first four books in the original series. MacLachlan does a beautiful job of capturing the essence of the Boxcar Children and imagining what their lives were like before they earned their epithet. The ending is sad, as is to be expected, but there is an overarching theme of hope and resilience that inspires readers to persevere through even the most adverse circumstances.
  
• 
  Mikayla

  This was a very bittersweet prequel to the Boxcar Children. I loved seeing how they interacted while they were still a whole family. Their sweet ideas and fun antics.
  Of coarse, the ending was sad, but it provided a good bases for the first book. I liked having more background on the characters.
  Though I felt like it was not a good lead up to their relationship with their grandfather. I felt like their parents made him out to be fairly nice.
  
• 
  Bailey Marissa

  This prequel is adorable. We get to see the kids with their parents and it's the cutest thing ever.
• 
  Reuben

  This was a pretty great story! I like that it shows what the Alden’s life was like before the first book. And it’s got a character with my name, Reuben! That was really weird to hear that in there! 😄
• 
  Toryn

  I think MacLachlan did an appropriate job explaining the Alden children’s parents, but still it was too quick.
• 
  Sarah

  This book has the simplicity of the original series, but the edition has modern illustrations of clothing and such when it is set in the Depression era. I didn’t finish the book because of its incomplete sentences. But maybe the book would still be good for young learning readers.
• 
  Kim

  Would have liked to know more about the argument that led to the estrangement between Grandfather Alden and his son.
• 
  Keshia

  Nostalgia for sure. Definitely had tears in my eyes at the end.
• 
  Nicci

  I’m finding it hard to rate this book. It was well written and had heart-warming stories about the family before the 4 children become orphaned. Of course, reading the original books you know that the parents died, but hearing about how they were “the best family of all,” and so lovingly happy together…. yet knowing that tragedy is coming, was so sad!
• 
  Kimson Dooland

  “Benny was just five and he made everyone smile. “That’s Benny’s job,” Mama had said, “to brighten our days.”
  
  
  
  I've read the first book the Boxcar children and this book is the prequel to the first book written by one of the fan. I loved the book. Gives in insight of what happens to the kids and how they end up at the bakery in the beginning of the 1st Book "The Box Car Children".
  
  The 4 children with their papa and mamma stayed in a farm, the mum was a baker who used to make buns and sell it at the bakery. The Family is one of a kind. All lovely little people always helpful to each other and not just their family. These people define "Live for others".
  
  They have a funny cow that moo's all the time. I liked the book.
  
  
  
  Rating - 4
• 
  Vicky

  So, I read The Boxcar Children in the 3rd grade, and enjoyed the books though elementary school. Perhaps if I could have read it with a third grader's perspective I would have liked this book better. It's obviously written simply for a young audience, so I can't be too harsh a critic. I think the characters' relationships are too sweet and perfect to be realistic, but I assume that's how the original books are too, so maybe it fits. I didn't think the sudden death of the parents was written very well. It was just too abrupt, and there was very little detail in the children's reactions. It seemed very detached. Maybe the goal was to protect a young reader from an emotionally traumatic subject, but I think a lot more emotion would have been a good idea, so the reader could feel more sympathy for the children and what they were losing.
• 
  Elaine

  not bad,but it didn't fully answer the questions I had of how the Boxcar Children ended up where they were at the beginning of the original Boxcar Children book. like, what's up with the non- interacting grandfather? It did a good job of not letting it get too upsetting for the young readers, who obviously have to deal with a death in the book, but at the same time, you'd think they'd be a little more traumatized by the event. but it makes sense that the author doesn't dwell on it, since it's a kid's book. prior to the death of the parents, the story was just OK, not as captivating as the mysteries or the original Boxcar Children book, though.
• 
  Jill

  If your kids loved the Boxcar Children, but you don't want to start down the series wormhole, definitely read this Patrica MacLaughlan delight! It is simultaneously darling and devastating. My son said it was the "saddest thing he had ever heard." He is five. :). Very good introduction to mortality in an age appropriate way.
• 
  Petrichor

  A surprisingly sweet prequel to the Boxcar Children books. While there is nary a mystery to be found, "Fair Meadow Farm" does a good job of establishing the children's characters without turning them into caricatures.
  
  This book reminded me how much I loved the Boxcar Children before I became a crusty old cynic, and I think fans of the series will enjoy this story for the nostalgia it evokes.
• 
  Rachel

  This book is set the summer immediately before the first Boxcar Children book, and sets up the reason the children are on their own and running from their unknown grandfather. It is set during the Great Depression, and most of the story is just a happy summer on the family farm.
  
  It struggles because it was written for the same audience as the Boxcar Children books, namely early readers. As a result the language is simple, and as an adult reader it is almost painfully simple. But I can allow that it may be perfect for a 6 or 7 year old to gain confidence in chapter books.
  
  Unfortunately the plot was also painfully simple. The whole time, anyone who has read the other books knows generally what’s coming (parents death), yet none of the book builds up to it, other than some very awkward foreshadowing at the beginning of the book. The Event happened in the second to last chapter, and just happened. No preamble, no follow up. The relationship with the grandfather was softened, presumably because the reader already “knows” Grandfather, but as a result the reason given for running away is not compelling.
  
  All this is made worse by the fact that this is not the original origin story for the Alden children. The first origin story actually was written by Warner herself as the first of the books. The first book was originally published as the Box-Car Children, and began after their father died but before they ran away. Their father in that story was an alcoholic, and the neighbors were parsing the children out because no one could take on 4. The father’s character spoke to why the grandfather disliked the family, and the hardships of death, alcoholism and separating a family were not hidden. (Interestingly, in Beginning, no adult actually uses the word “dead” when referring to the parents, and no adult directly refers to the “children’s home.” Both are implied, which makes the plot weaker in my opinion). Warner rewrote the book later when it became popular, to make it more “child friendly,” as what was deemed appropriate for children had changed between when she wrote the original story and when she published the rewrite.
  
  All in all, I did not find this to be a believable or compelling origin story, and I was disappointed because I hoped for better.
• 
  Christina

  I will preface this review by saying that I really like Patricia MacLachlan. Sarah Plain and Tall is one of my favorite children's books. But this book is just no good. Normally her writing is very simple and sparse, conveying a sense of quietness and beauty. The prose and dialogue in this book is simple in the way a book written by a 6 year old is simple. There doesn't seem to be anything holding the story together except for the fact that we all know the parents have to be dead by the time it's over. And when that finally happens, I was genuinely surprised at the superficial way in which she handled it. This is the same woman who wrote Baby, which I found to be one of the most sensitive and tender explorations of death and the way it affects children that I have ever read. It was there that I first encountered the poem "Dirge Without Music" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. But in this book death seems to be barely recognized, and all the characters, including the adults, behave in ways that simply don't make sense. At the end of the book I didn't like any of the characters, including the four kids who I already knew AND liked from the first Boxcar Children book. That's quite a feat she's performed!