That was cute.

Taking a train ride across the country is on my list of things to try one day and in a caboose would be even more interesting.

One of the best in a while.

A few random thoughts:

Grandfather began, "You see I have a friend who owns a railroad."

Come on. It doesn't all have to be about how crazy much money and power you have...

"Don't be late, either," Grandfather called again. "The train won't wait for you, you know."

Of course he's going to miss the train now. It's insane to me that they didn't just check no matter how much he said he'd nap.

Mr. Alden looked at the sign. "Oh, I know all about that store," he said. "It is famous. We can trust them to tell us the truth."

That just feels weird. ( )

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are spending the summer traveling on a train - in their own caboose, Number 777. At one train stop, a man startles the Boxcar Children when he runs away after hearing the number of their caboose

love this whole series! ( )

Caboose Mystery is one of the numerous books about the Boxcar children, four children who live with their rich, kind grandfather. Grandfather likes to spoil his grandkids, and so Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny are well-traveled. Adventure follows the Alden children around. That's the gist of the series. In this book, Mr. Alden and his grandkids take a vacation on a little railroad, renting a couple of cabooses on a freight train for that purpose. The family soon discovers that they are in number 777, a former circus caboose. In the meantime, the young philanthropists discover an unhappy widower who used to be a clown, the husband of an aerial artist who had a tragic accident. Not only is this going on, but there seems to be a mystery about a diamond necklace that the aerial artist owned. Now it's missing? What happened to it...? This is like the other Boxcar Children books--a good mystery that Gertrude Chandler Warner cranked out easily--but like many of the others, it has a sweet touch.

--Catherine ( )

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