The Mystery of Alligator Swamp (The Boxcar Children Special #19) by Gertrude Chandler Warner (Creator) and Hodges Soileau (Illustrator)
If you are unfamiliar with the wonderful chapter book series, The Boxcar Children, let me introduce you. In the first book in this series was The Boxcar Children (Rand McNally, 1924). In The Boxcar Children author Gertrude Chandler Warner introduces us to a family of four orphaned children: Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. Initially upon becoming orphans, the four children move into a rundown boxcar they find in the woods. However, eventually, they meet their paternal grandfather. He turns out not to be the ogre of a man they feared, and they move in with him. However, he does have their boxcar home moved onto his property so that the children do not lose it.
In subsequent books in the series, the siblings become mystery solvers. While I loved the first book in the series, I think this mystery-solving sibling brood was what really got me hooked on the series (that and my grandmother used to work at Albert Whitman & Company, which published many of the books and thus provided free copies to my grandmother).
The Mystery of Alligator Swamp stands out in my memory because my favorite animal is (and has been for a long time) an alligator. In this novel (which was written by a ghost author as Warner passed in 1979), the Aldens travel to Louisiana bayou country, and stop at a place called Alligator Swamp. While they start off having a lovely time, a creeping oddness sets in and the siblings are on the hunt to solve the mystery.
Packed with family finding themselves (and each other), age-appropriate mystery, and dangerous alligators, The Mystery of Alligator Swamp (and all books in the series not featuring alligators) are well worth a read.
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