The Box Car Children: The Lighthouse Mystery By:Gertrude Chandler Warner

Significance
I chose this piece because it really looked like a fun book to read, plus I love the author and all of the Box Car Children books. They're really unique, and cute. Plus, I love how it involves solving mysteries! A real world situation using these concepts would just be, if you were in a bit of a fishy situation you'd look into it and work together to solve it! It's a subject that applies to a lot of everyday activity, I think. I think maybe what inspired this piece was the author experiencing something that he wasn't really sure about, (a 'mystery') or maybe he's just really into old mystery books and he wanted to create something like that. Also, maybe he went through a situation like this and wanted to reflect on it, like a diary sort of, with the truth bent a little (you usually have to, to write a good story.)

Perspective
This book was made by Gertrude Chandler Warner. I think this book was written around the 1940's or 50's, by looking at the way they dressed, the things they did (trends change), and the way they spoke. I think maybe these books are more appealing to a younger age group, but not too young, or they probably wouldn't be able to understand them. At my age, they're a little cheesy and maybe the humor is too 'young' for 7th grade; but that's just my opinion. So I think this book is probably interpreted in different ways if you're younger, seeing as you probably wouldn't be able to understand a lot of it.

Evidence
I think the argument the author is trying to make, is that not all people that come off mean really are mean human beings. There were two characters in this book (Larry Cook and his father) and they were both very cross and glum at the beginning, but once Larry started befriending the Box Car Children, and the father began to open up a little, they were really, really nice people. It just takes a little time getting to know them. The facts the author used to support their argument, were at the beginning when they let us know that Larry Cook wanted very badly to go to college, but his father really didn't support the idea, to the extent that he wouldn't let him, no mater how much he (Larry) asked. Obviously, Larry was very upset about his father's attitude, so that created some tension between them, as well as everyone else. I support my thoughts by evidence of text in the book, where the author tells you that Larry and his father were not friendly to anyone, and the Box Car Children were even a bit scared of them both by their gruff, unfriendliness. It's very safe for me to assume what the author was saying was that at the beginning of the book they were very cross, unfriendly people.

Connection
This work applies to my own life, because there have been many people in my life that I don't get a good impression of, but it just takes some getting to know them, and they're actually really nice people. Most of the time you just need to take the time to let them open up. I don't really think my opinion would affect anyone else, because most of them are in my situation and would agree with me, and I don't think my opinion is very offensive at all. Hopefully it just makes those unfriendly people feel better. I think my attitude and actions affect myself because I used to not really give people I didn't get good impressions of a second chance, but I guess I've sort of seen passed that, and realized that most of the time they're nice people. I think this piece would definitely inspire me to read more mystery books in the future because I liked this one so much, and it was about a mystery. This is probably only the first or second mystery book I've ever read, so it's really opened me up to a lot of other reading options.

Supposition
Based on this information, I think I can predict that the Box Car Children will solve many more mysteries, and they'll hopefully continue visiting the lighthouse throughout future summers. In this piece, I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more if the language was a bit more sophisticated, or the level was a bit more advanced. It's just too easy to follow sometimes. If I applied this to a new situation, I don't think it would change much, because in every book they solve a mystery, and that's what happened in this one. So if you changed, for example, the mystery, or where they were located, etc. it wouldn't change it too much. Life wouldn't be different at all, I think if this event never happened. Well, maybe if there was some really old person who was obsessed with the Box Car Children and worshiped it or something, they'd cry or something, but that's about it.