Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This series is an interesting mix of fiction & nonfiction. Each book takes the characters (siblings Jack & Annie) to another place and/or time to get a clue to solve a mystery or challenge. The mysteries come in 4 book units, so this box set gives one full story unit. Our kids didn't really get that involved in the 'mystery' aspect, in part because we were getting them mostly from the library, which never seemed to have all 4 of a given mystery group. What they enjoyed was that it was a good easy chapter book, with many subjects or topics that were interesting to them. I would agree with the reviewer who complained about the standard of writing- it's not great- and would add that if your child is particularly well-versed in a topic in one of the books they are likely to find that they know more than is presented in the story. I would put these squarely at 1st grade level... The Boxcar children are regularly threatened by rather sinister types, and because the stories are seen to be more current, it can seem more frightening than something that is clearly happening in another time- Pharoic Egypt, dinosaurs, etc.).