Not to worry—we're going to discuss each of the Alden siblings individually. But, it's also useful to take a minute to think about them as a collective because there are certain qualities they al...

Henry is the eldest of the Alden children; though his age is never stated in the first book, we know that he's about 14 years old from later books in the series. From the first chapter, when he cho...

As the oldest Alden gal, Jessie is a nurturing sister who spends most of her time looking after the younger kids and Watch the dog. Like magic, she knows how to cook any sort of food you put in fro...

Violet is a sort of shadow Jessie, doing whatever cooking and cleaning her big sister can't manage. The younger Alden siblings are less developed characters than their big brother and sister, and i...

As the youngest of the Alden clan, 5-year-old Benny is the most impulsive, impractical, and playful of the children. In the first scene, when his brother chooses bread for dinner, Benny votes for c...

Henry gives Dr. Moore, his employer, a stamp of approval as soon as they meet. "He's a good man, too, I can tell you—a doctor" (6.7), Henry tells the other kids. Henry's instincts are good: Dr. M...

The Boxcar Children spend most of the novel trying to evade their grandfather. In fact, the dude's the reason they ran away in the first place—they've never met him, but he has a certain rep. "We...