Gertrude Chandler Warner grew up in Putnam, Connecticut. She wrote The Boxcar Children because she had always dreamed about what it would be like to live in a caboose or a freight car--just as the Aldens do. When readers asked for more adventures, Warner wrote more books--a total of nineteen in all. After her death, other authors have continued to write stories about Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, and today The Boxcar Children® series has more than one hundred books.

Tim Jessell is the illustrator of numerous books for children, including The Secrets of Doon. He lives in Oklahoma.