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''The Boxcar Children'' is a children's literary franchise originally created and written by the American first-grade school teacher〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=About Gertrude Chandler Warner )〕 Gertrude Chandler Warner. Today, the series includes well over 100 titles. The series is aimed at readers in grades 2–6. Originally published in 1924 by Rand McNally (as ''The Box-Car Children'') and reissued in a shorter revised form in 1942 by Albert Whitman & Company, ''The Boxcar Children'' tells the story of four orphaned children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. They create a home for themselves in an abandoned boxcar in the forest. They eventually meet their grandfather, who is a wealthy and kind man (although the children had believed him to be cruel). The children decide to live with the grandfather, who moves the beloved boxcar to his backyard so the children can use it as a playhouse. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association named the original book one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". In 2012 the original novel was ranked among the all-time "Top 100 Chapter Books", or children's novels, in a survey published by ''School Library Journal''. In the subsequent books, the children encounter many adventures and mysteries in their neighborhood or at the locations they visit with their grandfather. The majority of the books are set in locations the children are visiting over school holidays such as summer vacation or Christmas break. Only the first 19 stories were written by creator Warner. Other books in the series have been written by other writers, but always feature the byline "Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner". The recent books in the series are set in the present day, whereas most of the original books were set in the 1920s and 1930s. ==Plot summary of the original novel== ''The Boxcar Children'' tells the story of four children, Henry, Jessie (or Jess), Violet, and Benny Alden, who are orphans. One night, they take shelter in a bakery after buying some bread with the little cash they have. In exchange for allowing them to spend the night, they agree to help around the bakery. However, when they overheard the baker's plans for them, they flee. (In the original 1924 edition, they flee after overhearing that they will be sent to their grandfather, whom they believe would treat them cruelly. In the 1942 edition, they overhear the baker planning to keep the older three siblings but to take Benny to a children's home. Most recent printings of the book are based on the 1942 edition.) Finding an abandoned boxcar, the children start a new life of independence. Henry ends up working various odd jobs in a nearby city called Silver City for a young doctor (Dr. McAllister in the 1924 edition, Dr. Moore in later editions), in order to earn money for food and other materials they needed. He also did gardening for the doctor's mother. In one case, she let him take home some parsnips and carrots he had picked because they were too small. The children's lives are pleasant and full of hard work until Violet becomes ill and they go to the doctor for assistance. Earlier in the novel, the doctor read in the newspaper that a man named James Henry Alden (James Henry Cordyce in the 1924 edition) was offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who located his four lost grandchildren. They had run away because they thought he was cruel. After the doctor takes the sick Violet and the other children to his house, he finally contacts their grandfather. He arrives at the doctor's house. Not wanting to frighten the children into running away again, he does not reveal his full name. Not knowing that he was their "cruel" grandfather, the children warm to his kindness and are surprised but delighted when they eventually discover he is their grandfather. After moving in with him, James moves the boxcar to his backyard for their enjoyment. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Boxcar Children」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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