My first job in publishing was a very long time ago. Worked for a publisher of children’s books in Chicago, Albert Whitman @ Co. They had published a charming series before I got there: The Boxcar Children, about young children whose parents had died. They had to move into a boxcar because they didn’t have a home. The big kids helped the little kids, and they went to school every day, stayed clean, ate all their food, loved one another and thrived. The books taught kids about love, managing in adversity, being good citizens and doing their best no matter what.
Literally in tears about this new crud.
My son absolutely loved Boxcar Children, starting when he was about 7. I wonder if we still have any, or if they were library books. I’ll have to ask him, as he and his wife now have a son of their own, (he just turned one). I’ve been collecting all sorts of books at used book sales for him and have them on a shelf. By the time he’s ready for them, we probably won’t be able to find good children’s lit and and other wholesome books.