The Hundred-Year Mystery
Page 7
“Yay!” Benny yelled, running down to the ocean. “The water is so warm!” he called to the others. He jumped up and down, splashing. Then all of a sudden he stopped and looked down. Then he looked back up at the others. Jessie could see that he was scared as he ran back to the beach.
“There’s something in there!” he yelled. “It’s after me!”
“Whoa, Benny, don’t be scared,” Henry said. “The water is too shallow for a big fish.”
Jessie waded in and looked down at the water. “Sometimes the way the waves move over the sand makes it look like something is moving in the water. It’s just a trick on your eyes.”
“But I did see something,” Benny said. He stretched his arms out as wide as he could. “Something this big.”
Henry and Watch came to the edge of the water as a big wave came in and then rolled back. Watch barked and stepped back a few steps.
“There!” yelled Benny.
Where Benny pointed, a big clump of sand seemed to rise up from the sandy bottom. Watch barked again at the strange shape. Then another wave washed some of the sand away, revealing a strange-looking creature. Benny was right. There was something in the shallows. Something big!
Introducing The Boxcar Children Early Readers!
Adapted from the beloved chapter books, these new early readers allow kids to begin reading with the stories that started it all. Look for The Yellow House Mystery and Mystery Ranch, coming Spring 2019!
Introducing Interactive Mysteries!
Have you ever wanted to help the Aldens crack a case? Now you can with this interactive, choose-your-path-style mystery!
The Boxcar Children, Fully Illustrated!
This fully illustrated edition celebrates Gertrude Chandler Warner’s timeless story. Featuring all-new full-color artwork as well as an afterword about the author, the history of the book, and the Boxcar Children legacy, this volume will be treasured by first-time readers and longtime fans alike.
GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.
Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car—the situation the Alden children find themselves in.
While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible—something else that delights young readers.
Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.