The Boxcar Children

The Boxcar Children Mysteries, Book 1

By: Gertrude Chandler Warner

Narrated by: Aimee Lilly

Length: 1 hr and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are orphans. Can they find a home where they can stay together as a family?

©1989 Gertrude Chandler Warner (P)2018 Oasis Audio

Great Book, Poor Narration

I loved this series as a kid so I was excited to see if my girls would like them as well but unfortunately the narration was so annoying to me (we listen to books together in the car) that I won’t be buying any more.

Unfortunately annoying narration

I was so excited to listen to these stories, they were some of my favorites growing up, but I unfortunately couldn't get past the annoying character voices. I will be returning this one.

Annoying voices and sounds!

This is a great story but the narrator uses different voices for each of the characters and it's really nerve grating! There is also added sounds that aren't overly accurate and get annoying very fast!

Great for kids!

My two boys who are 5 and 3 years old were mesmerized by this story. The reader does a great job of doing all the different voices throughout the story. it is so much better than TV to have your kids listen to a book! You can just watch their little minds working as they imagine what the characters look like and all of the various scenes.

A childhood classic

Very much enjoyed this narration of an old childhood classic. The narrator does a great job with all the different voices. And there are sound effects! Great surprise there! Speaking of surprises, on to Surprise Island!

Amazing Story Ruined By Obnoxious Narration

My title speaks for itself. What a shame. This is one of my favorite books from childhood, but the narrator’s voices for the children make it too distracting to listen to the story. Listen to the free sample and you’ll know within 60 seconds whether you’ll be bothered by this. I wish I had sampled this title before purchasing. It would have saved me the hassle of returning it.

Lovely story... Awful Narrator.

The children sound like chain smokers. The narrator gives them gritty, annoying, sharp voices, which is a shame since she has a great narration voice otherwise. It makes it almost unlistenable.

Terrible narration, wonderful story!

The narration was obnoxious- the oldest brother sounded like a 50 year old smoker and the youngest brother sounded like a baby goblin. It was awful. The narrator's voice was lovely as an adult, but should not narrate children's books. The story was wonderful though! What a beautifully imaginative story. My kids loved it and finished it within 24 hours.

Benny's voice- like fingers on a chalkboard

So looking forward to sharing this classic with my boys. However, the voice of Benny caused all three of us to stop listening to the story and pick up the hard copy. Hope this is redone in a different octave.

Made the kids listen in the other room

We love the early books in the Boxcar series and have read them together as a family. The kids wanted to be able to listen to them over and over so I was glad to find them on audible. However, when the narrator does her voice for Benny, the youngest boy, who we have all imagined as sweet, spunky, and most of all cute, I cringe. My shoulders tighten up and I want to stop listening so it doesn't negatively affect all the fond memories I have attached to this series which I also read as a child. My kids did listen to the whole book, but I won't be buying more of this series with this narrator. I haven't experienced this with any other narrator, so I don't think I'm a performance-snob. (Maybe I am and time will tell?) I understand a young child should have a higher-pitched voice, but listen to the sample to see if it will bother you as there is a lot of dialogue in this series. The narrator did to a good job of having different voices for each of the children and her expression and pace were fine.

Awful narration

So my 8 and 5 year olds love to the story but I can't be in the same room when it's playing. The narration is so bad. Really. It's horrendous.

Review from 8 year old boy

I love the Boxcar Children because it’s so fun.🤩😀 I really enjoyed it! This book made me wish that I was in the same circumstance as the Boxcar Children. This book is the first book and it is about when the Children run away from their grandfather, thinking that he was going to be grumpy and unkind to them, and then they find a boxcar and live in it! I recommend this book to anyone aged from 5 to 12 years old, but anyone can read or listen to this book! I also recommend the Boxcar Children great adventure series.
By Moses, age 8