I think The Boxcar Children stories have endured all these years because they appeal both to children and their parents. Kids love the stories because the main characters have very little adult supervision, and they always involve some sort of mystery. Parents are happy to have their kids reading stories about children who are resourceful, kind, clever, adaptable, and independent. The books are good for a wide range of reading abilities; the text is simple and straightforward, but the themes are appropriate for young readers and older elementary school children alike.  If you have a young child who is reading well above grade level, these books can be a godsend – they have been to us.

If your school-age kids haven’t read any of the Boxcar Children stories, this is a great time to introduce them to the Alden children’s adventures. In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the series, many of the covers have been redesigned, featuring new illustrations that are action-oriented and more visually appealing to kids today. If your kids really get in to the stories, there are lots of ways to dig deeper:

You can start with a trip to the library or your local bookstore to pick up some of the original titles. After a good read, take a look around the new Boxcar Children website, where you can read about the author, search for books in the series by theme, download activity guides, enter to win a voice part in the animated Boxcar Children film, and even find out what the Alden children are reading!

Once your kids have read some of the original books in the series, they might be curious about the lives of the Alden children before they became orphans. They’re in luck: Author Patricia MacLachlan (who wrote “Sarah, Plain and Tall”) has written a prequel to the series, “The Boxcar Children® Beginning: The Aldens of Fair Meadow Farm”. You can pick up a copy at Barnes & Noble in Burlington and visit with Patricia MacLachlan during an author event on Friday, September 28 at 7:00pm.

If you have a big fan of the series (like my daughter, who has read 100 of the books), a day trip to the Boxcar Children Museum in Putnam, Connecticut might be in order! The museum is open 11:00am - 4:00pm on weekends through October 20th. (If you can get a group together, the museum volunteers may be able to open it for you on a weekday.) At the museum, you can see a re-creation of the living space created by the Alden children in an authentic 1920's New Haven R.R. boxcar. There are also signed books, photos, and artifacts from Gertrude Chandler Warner’s life as a teacher and author. In case you’re wondering why the museum is located in Putnam, the answer lies in the house across the street (alright, I’ll spill the beans – it’s Gertrude Chandler Warner’s childhood home). Tip: the museum’s website doesn’t seem to get updated very often. For more recent information, visit their Facebook page.

For a truly special celebration, visit Putnam on Saturday, October 20, 2012 from 11:00am - 4:00pm for the The Great Pumpkin Festival (A.K.A. Putnam Fall Festival). This year will be quite the hootenanny, with a craft fair, pumpkin contests, and a real, honest-to-goodness train ride. And if you missed the chance to meet Patricia MacLachlan at Barnes & Noble, not to worry – she will also be at the Pumpkin Festival for a book signing.

When the fall festivities are over, and your child still wants to celebrate the Boxcar Children, you may want to channel all that energy into an attempt at reading all the books in the series or making a fun craft project, like a Boxcar Children diorama. (I found this one on Just Wedeminute, a blog by Jennifer Wedemeyer.) Or let your kids get creative and come up with their own projects. Who knows, maybe some of the characters’ resourcefulness has rubbed off on them!