Surprise Island (3 page)

The Boxcar Children

Surprise Island

The Yellow House Mystery

Mystery Ranch

Mike’s Mystery

Blue Bay Mystery

Snowbound Mystery

Tree House Mystery

The Haunted Cabin Mystery

The Amusement Park Mystery

The Pizza Mystery

The Castle Mystery

The Woodshed Mystery

The Lighthouse Mystery

Mountain Top Mystery

Houseboat Mystery

Bicycle Mystery

Mystery in the Sand

Gertrude Chandler Warner was born on April 16, 1890, in Putnam, Connecticut. In 1918, Warner began teaching at Israel Putnam School. As a teacher, she discovered that many readers who liked an exciting story could not find books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need. In 1942,
The Boxcar Children
was published for these readers.

Warner drew on her own experience to write
The Boxcar Children
. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks near her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to live in a caboose or freight car—just as the Alden children do.

When readers asked for more Alden adventures, Warner began additional stories. While the mystery element is central to each of the books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence. Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible—something that delights young readers.

During her lifetime, Warner received hundreds of letters from fans as she continued the Aldens’ adventures, writing nineteen Boxcar Children books in all. After her death in 1979, her publisher, Albert Whitman and Company, carried on Warner’s vision. Today, the Boxcar Children series has more than 100 books.

Visit us at
www.albertwhitman.com
.

Copyright © 2009 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in 2009 by Albert Whitman & Company, 6340 Oakton Street, Morton Grove, Illinois, 60053-2723 by arrangement with Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. THE BOXCAR CHILDREN
^®
is a registered trademark of Albert Whitman & Company.

Adapted by Rob M. Worley

Illustrated by Mike Dubisch

Colored by Wes Hartman

Lettered by Johnny Lowe

Edited by Stephanie Hedlund

Interior layout and design by Kristen Fitzner Denton

Cover art by Mike Dubisch

Book design and packaging by Shannon Eric Denton

ISBN 978-1-4532-2011-5

This 2011 edition distributed by Open Road Integrated Media

180 Varick Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com