REVIEW: Surprise Island (The Boxcar Children)

Surprise Island
The Boxcar Children #2
Author: Gertrude Chandler Warner

The story of the Boxcar Children continues with Surprise Island. The kids have grown accustomed to their new life with their grandfather. But sometimes they miss the days where they had adventures and lived on their own in an abandoned boxcar. So their grandfather has a surprise for them. They get to spend the summer on an island he owns! They have adventures....meet a new friend....and make some cool discoveries!

Another cute story in this children's adventure series! While enjoying this story, I had to smile. The adult in me kept wanting to think "oh my gosh, this is just not safe!''  But the kid still lurking in me was like "Woo Hoo! A whole summer vacation on an island! SO MUCH FUN!!''  So, I firmly told the adult in me to shut up. It's a children's story....let the kids have fun! :)

I listened to the audio book version of this story. Narrated by Tim Gregory, the audio (Oasis Audio) is just over 2.5 hours long. Gregory reads at a nice pace and does a great acting job, even with the children's voices. There are also some sound effects here and there. Nice listening experience! I like listening to these stories while doing house or yard work because they are happy, innocent and just fun. Brain candy! :)

Surprise Island was published in 1949. It is a little bit dated, but not badly enough to hamper enjoyment of the story. Nineteen books in this series were written by the original author, Gertrude Chandler Warner. More than 130 books have been added to the series by other writers with the newest book, Secret on the Thirteenth Floor, coming out in September 2019! I'm so curious how the newer books compare to the original series! I might have to skip around a bit and read some of the new books to see what I think. :)

On to the next book in this series -- The Yellow House Mystery!