Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Practical, Fanciful, Cheerful
The Boxcar Children is a curious combination of practical and fanciful. On one level, the Alden children are remarkably levelheaded. Henry and Jessie work hard to take care of their siblings. They try to make responsible decisions (like buying bread instead of cake), and they cobble together a respectable house in the woods using only their wits and trash from the local dump.
On another level, though, the story isn't realistic at all: The children's lives as runaways are totally romanticized. Reading about their boxcar home, where "the days went by happily" as "they found more treasures in the dump" (11.1), you almost want to quit your life and go live in the woods. But, in real life, how well do you think that would go? Yeah … probably not so great.
Another interesting thing about the book is how its cheerful tone almost erases the story's dark undertones. The Alden children are relentlessly cheerful. Henry cleans out Dr. Moore's garage with the enthusiasm other kids might reserve for things that are actually fun, while Jessie's idea of a good time is simply using utensils—"What fun! […] Eating with spoons" (6.5) is something she actually says. The children's positive attitudes are almost enough to make you forget that they are four orphans on the run from a hostile universe filled with the threat of orphanages and an evil grandfather. Almost.