A set of siblings wander about without a home or much money, but eventually stumble upon an abandoned boxcar where they can find shelter.

This is a picture book version of the classic chapter book series opener; in general I do think it's a good idea to have picture book or early reader versions of very popular chapter books so that younger siblings can also share in the fun.

However, I have an advanced readers' copy of the book that clearly is having some issues. While the pages are numbered and it appears that all are there, some pages just stop mid-sentence and the next page starts a new chapter. It definitely felt jumpy and like parts of the story were missing.

I read this with my niece who typically loves all books and even she complained that this book made no sense and didn't explain enough of anything. Since neither of us had read the chapter books, we couldn't fill in the blanks left open. Also, I noticed that the back cover says this edition includes "an afterword about the author, the history of the book, and the Boxcar Children legacy," and none of that was here.

So I really hope that these issues were fixed before final production went forward because this seemed like a good thing in theory but not with the copy I have. The illustrations are lovely and gentle, which seems fitting with what little text was here. ( )