From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil e. Frankweiler

by E.L. Konigsburg

2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved classic From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money.

Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie bad some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she bad discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too.

The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her-well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.

• ISBN10: 0689205864
• ISBN13: 9780689205866
• Publish Date: 1 November 1970 (first published 1 January 1967)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 162
• Language: English

Reviews

[wcs53]

I hadn't heard of this book before, but I needed to read a book that had won an award to finish off one of my book challenges for 2017. My daughter loaned me this one, which won the Newbery Medal in 1968. This is the 35th anniversary edition.

This is a charming little read and was an enjoyable one to finish off my reading for the year. The story is about a young girl who runs away from home with one of her brothers, but in a different way from a 'normal' runaway. They hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and end up trying to solve a mystery behind a sculpture there. This leads them to meet the elderly Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler of the book title, who helps them with this.

Apparently this is a classic that is still widely read, which doesn't really surprise me. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a decent read for their middle-graders.