; ;

The Boxcar Children: The Sleepy Hollow Mystery

This is book #162 of the series The Boxcar Children, originally created by G.C. Warner.  The last scores of books have been written by ghost authors as Warner has long passed.  These books have the same four original characters, just as charming and wholesome as ever.  They still live with Grandfather Alden and his housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor.  Each book is a mystery which occurs away from home and in which the children solve.  In this particular installment, they are at a friend of Mrs. McGregor, which is a first for me, it’s usually Grandfather’s friend.  The town is called Sleepy Hollow and is almost Halloween.  Running ghost tours, the family friend is trying to raise money to maintain upkeep on the family home.  However, someone is trying to sabotage the tours and make them lose their home.  It’s pretty easy to figure out who the baddie is and even the Alden children pretty much had it at the very beginning.  There are always a few misleading clues but this one was pretty clear.  These books are terrific for the beginning reader, but there are enough of them now.  If beginning readers read all 162 books, they’d move on to harder books.  Time for the Boxcar children to age and move on.