Synopsis of The Chocolate Sundae Mystery
The Chocolate Sundae Mystery is from the famous Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. The Alden children are four orphans who live with their grandfather in the town of Greenfield. In the first book, The Boxcar Children, the children live in an abandoned boxcar, until they go to live with their wealthy grandfather. Their grandfather has the boxcar put in his backyard for the children's enjoyment. Their time in the boxcar provides them with everlasting lessons that are carried through each book. Henry, the oldest, provides guidance and support for his younger siblings in every book. Jesse, the eldest sister, is the caretaker of the family. Violet, named after Warner's favorite flower, is writer and artist of the family. Benny is the proverbial baby of the family, always seeming to get into mischief. Watch, the family dog, accompanies the Aldens in every adventure. The Alden children experience many adventures throughout this sixty book series. In this story, as in all of the wonderful stories, the Alden children are presented with a mystery that they solve through cooperation and use of detective skills.
The story takes in the fictional town of Greenfield. There is a very old ice cream parlor in town known as the Shoppe. The store has just been recently sold and the new Mr. Brown, undergoes some problems. He must hire all new employees. He offers the Alden children a job. They accept their new positions and begin working immediately. Each one of the children helps in their own unique way. Henry helps Brian, another employee, with making ice cream and syrups. Jessie assists Simone, a young woman from France working in Greenfield for the summer. Violet helps with making sandwiches and serving customers. Benny helps his siblings and eats as much ice cream as he can.
All is not well in Greenfield when it comes to ice cream. The Alden children are once again confronted with a mystery no one can solve. Ice cream is disappearing from the Shoppe, glasses are missing and food is mysteriously spoiling. Also, the front window to the Shoppe is broken and it appears to have happened from inside the store. The children are presented with various suspects and they masterfully weed each out. Mrs. Saunders owns an ice cream truck that has been competing with the Shoppe. The children heard Mrs. Saunders telling customers that her ice cream was better. Simone has twice been out of work the day after something has happened. She was also spotted talking very quietly to a young man. Violet watched Simone and the young man exchange a very secretive note. Brian, the other boy working in the store, often leaves the store early without an explanation. Lastly, a customer who became belligerent with Simone when she served him the wrong sandwich becomes a suspect. The children discover that he once worked for the old owner and was fired.
The Aldens set out to solve this mystery and save the Shoppe. Mr. Brown is thinking of closing the store. The children decide to investigate their first suspect, Mrs. Saunders by following her around town for the day and early evening. She does nothing suspicious and she is eliminated as a suspect. They learn that Mr. Brown had given Simone for those two days off weeks before anything began happening at the Shoppe. Also the boy Simone is always talking with his her boyfriend. The children learn that he has since gotten another job and does not live in Greenfield any longer. This leaves Brian as the only suspect. The children devise a plan to hide in the broom closet and wait for the intruders.
The children carry out their plan and are surprised by their discovery. Brian and his friends were coming to the store each night after the store closed. Brian friends lived on the outside of town and were poor. Brian was letting them in the store each night to eat. When the children discover Brian and his friends, Brian admits to all the troubles the store has been having and agrees to talk to Mr. Brown. He explains that he has been feeding his friends after the Shoppe closed because of their financial situation. He also tells the children that the window was broken when he was trying to clean up one night. He slipped on a wet floor and the broom handle went through the window. Mr. Brown agrees to let Brian work for a month to work off the damages and food he had taken, and each day send his leftover food to Brian's unfortunate friends. The story ends with a party at the Shoppe and another mystery solved.
Gertrude Chandler Warner
Gertrude Chandler Warner was born in Putnam, Connecticut on April 16, 1890 and lived there until her death in 1979. She was the middle child of Judge Edgar Warner and Jane Warner. The Warners' house was directly across the street from a railroad station. In the early 20th century, Putnam was a major train stop for many lines. From her house, Warner could see into the train cars. Here she saw the interior of a caboose, with a little stove, table and dishes used by the railroad workers. These images stuck in her mind and became the basis of for her Boxcar Children series.
Encouraged by her mother, Warner read and wrote constantly. She kept a journal and produced books for her family. At age nine, she wrote her first book, Golliwogg at the Zoo. She copied the title from a popular book of the time, Florence Upton's The Golliwogg at the Sea-Side. Warner illustrated her book with watercolors and presented it to her beloved grandfather for Christmas. Each year she wrote a book for each family member as a Christmas gift.
In 1916 Warner published her first book, The House of Delight. This wonderful story recapped the many hours she and her sister had spent playing with their dollhouse. She dedicated the book to her grandfather, calling him her "best playmate."
The early 1900's brought many changes to the Warner family. Her older sister Frances had graduated from college and was teaching high school. Her brother John had graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and was studies in Paris for the next two years. Though a spirited young woman with great promise, poor health prevented her from finishing high school. Due to a shortage of teachers during World War I, she was hired as a first grade teacher at the Israel Putnam School. She held this position for over thirty years. Although she never married or had children of her own, she thought of her students as her children. It was in teaching that she found her calling.
Gertrude was recognized and honored for her teaching methods. She would make fancy hand blown eggs with each student, celebrate birthdays and draw silhouettes of each child she taught. She would play the piano for a boys' club called the Pages of King Arthur. While in her early years of teaching she wrote a book called Star Stories For Little Folks. Her book was a success because it was an astronomy book that was easy to understand.
Warner continued to write for adult audiences. Two essays published by the Ladies Home Journal brought her continued success. Her first published article reflected on her experiences as an elementary school teacher. She wrote about a drawer she kept full of children's treasures, the kind of treasures a teacher would collect. Her second article, "The Return of A,B,C" tells how she introduced phonics instead of letter names to teach children to read.
Warner continued to write and publish but her masterpiece came in 1936. The publication of the first Boxcar Children brought her acclaim but not without controversy. Librarians protested her book because they thought the characters were having too good a time without parents. Children then and still love her tales of the orphaned Aldens and their adventures.
Gertrude Chandler Warner was a popular and creative teacher whose love of children, reading and writing, was never hampered by ill health. Warner championed those children who were not natural readers. She developed a style that was accessible to all and provided hope and encouragement. She published the last book of the original Boxcar Children when she was eighty-six. Although she died in 1979, the Boxcar Children series is still being written in the tradition and style she created. Summing up her life is best done by the words on her grave marker, "She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness in on her tongue." (Ellsworth, 1997)