The Mystery at the Fair (10 page)

Michael and Courtney ran into the room.

“Michael! Courtney!” the children shouted.

“We're so glad you could come to the party,” Jessie said.

“So are we,” Courtney said. “We got here the same time your Grandfather did.”

“We made a get-well card for Michael,” Violet said. She handed the brightly decorated card to the little boy.

“Thank you!” Michael said.

“How are you feeling, Michael?” Henry asked.

“I'd feel even better if I had some birthday cake,” Michael said.

Everyone laughed. Mrs. McGregor lit the candles on the cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Mr. Alden. He cut slices of the cake and passed them around to everyone. Then he opened his card.

“What a lovely card!” Grandfather said. Then he carefully unwrapped the paper and saw the beautiful book.
“The History of Greenfield,”
Grandfather said. “This is a very special book, and expensive, too. You children must have worked very hard to buy it.”

The Aldens all smiled at each other.

“I've been wanting this book for a long time,” Grandfather said. “How did you know?”

“Oh, that mystery was easy to solve,” Benny said as he started on his second piece of birthday cake.

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
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.

When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

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.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

THE BOXCAR CHILDREN® is a registered trademark of Albert Whitman & Company.

Copyright © 1996 by Albert Whitman & Company

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FROM ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY
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