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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg, 1967, New York, NY: Atheneum Books. 176 pages. ISBN: 978-1416949756.
Age/Interest Level: 8-12 years
Lexile Level: 700L
Awards: Newbery Medal (1968), Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1968), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee (1969)
Reader Annotation: Claudia Kincaid and her brother, James, hatch a plan to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After learning how to live unnoticed in the museum, the two attempt to solve the mystery of whether Michelangelo really carved an angel statue, new to the museum.
Plot Summary: Claudia Kincaid is tired of parents that do not appreciate her and she decides to run away from home. Of course, she needs money, so she enlists her brother, Jamie, to run away with her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After a while, the two discover how to live mostly unnoticed within the museum. However, a new exhibit of an angel supposedly carved by Michelangelo catches their attention and they attempt to settle the dispute once and for all. When their initial investigation doesn’t return the results they had hoped for, they set off to see Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, an art collector who had recently auctioned the statue off and who knows the answer to the mystery.
Critical Evaluation: With this work, Konigsburg succeeds in tapping directly into a childhood delight. The idea of staying in a museum well past closing time, to have the place to yourself, is an incredible thought. Konigsburg allows her characters to do this and the readers, in turn, get to experience this as well. She also creates rich characters in which to inhabit those walls, who grow and learn. They are motivated to find a sense of meaning, particularly Claudia, whose seemingly perfect life has become stale because she only does what is expected of her. This work allows readers to discover both the wonders of a museum (and there’s plenty of topics from exhibits for readers to explore further) as well as the need to explore and discover purpose. While a difficult concept, Konigsburg seems to develop it with ease.
Why Included: As a winner of the Newbery Medal, this book holds certain literary prestige. Beyond that, though, it is a delightful work with a simple mystery and self-discovery at its core.
Age/Interest Level: 8-12 years
Lexile Level: 700L
Awards: Newbery Medal (1968), Lewis Carroll Shelf Award (1968), Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award Nominee (1969)
Reader Annotation: Claudia Kincaid and her brother, James, hatch a plan to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After learning how to live unnoticed in the museum, the two attempt to solve the mystery of whether Michelangelo really carved an angel statue, new to the museum.
Plot Summary: Claudia Kincaid is tired of parents that do not appreciate her and she decides to run away from home. Of course, she needs money, so she enlists her brother, Jamie, to run away with her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After a while, the two discover how to live mostly unnoticed within the museum. However, a new exhibit of an angel supposedly carved by Michelangelo catches their attention and they attempt to settle the dispute once and for all. When their initial investigation doesn’t return the results they had hoped for, they set off to see Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, an art collector who had recently auctioned the statue off and who knows the answer to the mystery.
Critical Evaluation: With this work, Konigsburg succeeds in tapping directly into a childhood delight. The idea of staying in a museum well past closing time, to have the place to yourself, is an incredible thought. Konigsburg allows her characters to do this and the readers, in turn, get to experience this as well. She also creates rich characters in which to inhabit those walls, who grow and learn. They are motivated to find a sense of meaning, particularly Claudia, whose seemingly perfect life has become stale because she only does what is expected of her. This work allows readers to discover both the wonders of a museum (and there’s plenty of topics from exhibits for readers to explore further) as well as the need to explore and discover purpose. While a difficult concept, Konigsburg seems to develop it with ease.
Why Included: As a winner of the Newbery Medal, this book holds certain literary prestige. Beyond that, though, it is a delightful work with a simple mystery and self-discovery at its core.