Free Boxcar Children 61 - Growling Bear Mystery by Charles Tang, Gertrude Chandler Warner

mention it. After all, you found the cabin, and you’re safe and sound. No harm done.”
    Mr. Crabtree pulled down the brim of his orange hat. Without looking up, he continued talking. “Well, there is some harm done to these four children,” he said, turning to the Aldens. “And it has to do with bears.”
    “You saw a bear!” Benny cried.
    Mr. Crabtree loosened the straps of his backpack and dropped it to the ground. He reached inside. Everyone heard a button click on. “ Grrr ,” they heard next. “ Grrr .” The growls were followed by some thuds and the sounds of snapping branches.
    Everyone but Mr. Crabtree felt prickles of fear on the backs of their necks.
    “This tape recorder is the bear you heard,” Mr. Crabtree said. He held up a portable tape recorder and showed it to everyone. Mr. Crabtree pressed another button. “There. I’m erasing this. I made this bear tape to keep hikers away from here, especially after I saw the four of you come down from the trails the other afternoon when I was up on the porch of the inn. I knew I was getting closer to the cabin, and I just wanted to find it once and for all. I owe everyone an apology.”
    “But there was a bear,” Benny insisted. “I know there was.”
    Everyone looked at each other and smiled. There was no way of checking on Benny’s bear.
    Benny jiggled his bear bells. “See these? They scared away our bear, and it never came back.”
    “ Grrr ,” Jessie said, putting her arms around Benny. “Have a bear hug.”

About the Author
    G ERTRUDE C HANDLER W ARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.
    Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.
    When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.
    While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.
    Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar Children Mysteries
    T HE B OXCAR C HILDREN
    S URPRISE I SLAND
    T HE Y ELLOW H OUSE M YSTERY
    M YSTERY R ANCH
    M IKE’S M YSTERY
    B LUE B AY M YSTERY
    T HE W OODSHED M YSTERY
    T HE L IGHTHOUSE M YSTERY
    M OUNTAIN T OP M YSTERY
    S CHOOLHOUSE M YSTERY
    C ABOOSE M YSTERY
    H OUSEBOAT M YSTERY
    S NOWBOUND M YSTERY
    T REE H OUSE M YSTERY
    B ICYCLE M YSTERY
    M YSTERY IN THE S AND
    M YSTERY B EHIND THE W ALL
    B US S TATION M YSTERY
    B ENNY U NCOVERS A M YSTERY
    T HE H AUNTED C ABIN M YSTERY
    T HE D ESERTED L IBRARY M YSTERY
    T HE A NIMAL S HELTER M YSTERY
    T HE O LD M OTEL M YSTERY
    T HE M YSTERY OF THE H IDDEN P AINTING
    T HE A MUSEMENT P ARK M YSTERY
    T HE M YSTERY OF THE M IXED -U P Z OO
    T HE C AMP -O UT M YSTERY
    T HE M YSTERY G IRL
    T HE M YSTERY C RUISE
    T HE D ISAPPEARING F RIEND M YSTERY
    T HE M YSTERY OF THE S INGING G HOST
    M YSTERY IN THE S NOW
    T HE P IZZA M YSTERY
    T HE M YSTERY H ORSE
    T HE M YSTERY AT THE D OG S HOW
    T HE C ASTLE M YSTERY
    T HE M YSTERY OF THE L OST V ILLAGE
    T HE M YSTERY ON THE I CE
    T HE M