OP: The Boxcar Children Cookbook
Albert Whitman & Company, Morton Grove, IL, 1991. Paperback. Near Fine.
The Box-Car Children, first published in 1924, is the rags-to-riches story of four orphaned siblings who find shelter in an abandoned boxcar and are later adopted by a wealthy grandfather. Some 200 novels and spinoffs followed with more still in the works.
The first novel sets the backstory for what ultimately became an amateur detective series with the Alden siblings solving mysteries. While the books were never food-centric, an adventurous life inevitably leads to robust appetites, and the children are forever fueling up for their next caper or relieved to see a meal after a grueling one. This 1991 cookbook ties various culinary plot points with recipes suitable for young sleuths to make.
There are the lighthouse brownies Benny nibbled while mulling on clues in The Lighthouse Mystery; mashed potatoes inspired by the boxed version prepared in Houseboat Mystery; and snow ice cream—a last resort for the weather-trapped children in Snowbound Mystery—made with real snow.
Our copy is a Near Fine paperback, the only blemish being a small crease to the rear wrapper.
