From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg

Twelve-year-old Claudia Kincaid decides to run away from her home in suburban Connecticut, because she thinks her parents do not appreciate her and she doesn't like it.

She takes refuge in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) in New York City, with her brother Jamie.

She chooses Jamie as her companion partly because he has saved all his money. With the help of an unused adult train fare card that she found in a wastebasket, Claudia finds a way to get to the museum for free using the commuter train and a very long walk.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و سوم ماه نوامبر سال2009میلادی

عنوان: فرار به موزه نيويورک؛ نویسنده: ای.ال کنیگزبرگ؛ مترجم شهره نورصالحی؛ ویراستار فریبا نباتی؛ تهران، پیدایش، سال1387، در216ص، شابک9789643495459؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م

هشدار: اگر میخواهید این کتاب را بخوانید از خوانش ریویو خودداری کنید

داستان دختر دوازده ساله‌ ای به نام «کلودیا» است؛ که با خانواده‌ اش در حومه ی شهر «نیویورک» زندگی می‌کنند؛ «کلودیا» که فرزند ارشد، و تنها دختر خانواده است، به علت بی‌توجهی خانواده، و یکنواختی زندگیش، تصمیم می‌گیرد، با برادر نه ساله‌ اش «جیمی»، به موزه ی «نیویورک» فرار کنند؛ او فکر همه چیز را کرده است، هزینه رفت و آمد، خوراکی، و جایی برای ماندن؛ «کلودیا» و «جیمی» نزدیک یک هفته، در موزه می‌مانند، روزها میان جمعیت، به عنوان گردشگر موزه، از بخش‌های گوناگون آن، دیدن می‌کنند؛ و شب‌ها، با پنهان شدن در گوشه‌ ای، شب را به صبح می‌رسانند؛ روزی، هنگام گردش در موزه، متوجه مجسمه‌ ای شصت سانتی، به نام فرشته می‌شوند، که مردمان، برای دیدن آن، صف بسته‌ اند؛ آن‌ها پی می‌برند، کارشناسان موزه، در پی هویت سازنده ی مجسمه، هستند، و عده‌ ای باور دارند، که آن مجسمه، ساخته ی دست «میکل آنژ» است؛ کشف هویت سازنده ی مجسمه، همان چیزی است، که «کلودیا» می‌خواهد؛ «کلودیا»، نیاز به تغییر دارد، دلش می‌خواهد، قهرمان شود، و فرارش از خانه، به یک دردی بخورد؛ «کلودیا» و «جیمی»، تصمیم می‌گیرند، هر طور شده، راز مجسمه را، کشف کنند، و بفهمند، چه کسی واقعا، سازنده ی مجسمه، بوده است؛ در پایان داستان «کلودیا» و «جیمی»، نزد خانم «فرانک وایلر»، صاحب پیشین مجسمه، می‌روند، تا راز مجسمه را، کشف کنند، و خانم «فرانک وایلر»، به آن‌ها اطمینان می‌دهد، «میکل آنژ»، سازنده ی مجسمه است؛ اما از آن‌ها قول می‌گیرد، این راز، تا پس از مرگش، نباید برملا شود؛ حالا «کلودیا»، وقتی به خانه برگردد، یک راز دارد، چیزی که او را، با پیش از فرارش، متمایز می‌کند؛ حالا دیگر لازم نیست، «کلودیا» مثل یک قهرمان، به خانه برگردد؛ همین که خودش می‌داند قهرمان است؛ کافی است؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 13/11/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 29/09/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

"No," I answered, "I don't agree with that. I think you should learn a great deal, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you." (PG. 153)

3.5

John Newbery Medal--1968

This was a better than 'The View From Saturday.' I'm glad I didn't give upon this author. I liked the sister and brother duo and their story of running away to the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. It was a fun adventure. I also liked knowing how much things used to cost back then... Go away inflation and million dollar homes! Let's throw back to the 1960 prices!

Although I did enjoy the story there were a few things that got on my nerves. And it goes like this:
Claudia's reason for running away from home was stupid, like come on!
Twelve-year-old Claudia spoke like a twenty-five-year-old
I think Claudia had pubic hair and tween boobs and shouldn't bathe in a fountain with her little brother, although it was more innocent and thank goodness there were no CCTV cameras in there.
My biggest annoyance was Mrs. Frankweiler's interrupting of the story to write to Dearest Saxonberg! Shut up and continue the story, lady. Jeez!
And the parents not knowing what happened to Claudia and Jamie Kincaid all week. The heart attack they must have experienced.

Overall, pretty good and short. Worth a read.

I've read this book at least five times, and it just keeps getting better. Spare, beautiful, accessible and funny, it has a huge amount to say about life, the universe and everything - and it's also an expression of the ultimate childhood fantasy. After all, who doesn't want to run away to the Met?! This new Pushkin edition is just the sort of lovely packaging that the book deserves.

There are certain, special books that I don't want to give up once finished. I guess to prolong the separation and perhaps to somehow physically absorb whatever magic it possesses, I'll find myself pressing my palms against the book, sandwiching it. It doesn't happen very often. But it did happen with this book.

I had never read this book growing up. But I'm so glad that I finally got around to it.

What is it that makes this book so wonderful? Let's begin with Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler's clever narration. Her voice(like the character) is frosty and matter-of-fact but only on the surface. There's also a warm undercurrent that shows the esteem she has for these kids and their adventure.

Then add to that the relationship between Claudia and her brother Jamie. It's terrific and so well done. Like many siblings, their dynamic is a balancing act between affection and irritation, respect and disdain.

And then you've got the "cool factor" to the story: Who hasn't thought about interacting, let alone living, with the artifacts in a museum? The author clearly respects kids, a must if you want to create decent children's literature. By allowing Claudia and Jamie to treat not only the Met but New York City as their home and playground (and not get caught) exemplifies Konigsburg's apparent belief in how capable and astute children can be.

And like all great children's literature, the book possesses a wisdom, a lesson, and a worldly vision that will benefit the reader -- young or old -- and provide him with a better understanding of his surroundings.

There's a bittersweetness to this book that I can't quite put my finger on. Why was I teary-eyed at the end of this book? Was it because I felt compassion for the childless Mrs. Frankweiler who seemed to have finally found the family that had escaped her before? The portrayal of a New York and the Met that will never be again and that I'm sorry I missed? The conclusion's truth in the importance of having secrets and wanting to feel special?

I think I was just sad to have this one end.

all i would like is to be a girl in the greater new york area who spends her entire allowance on hot fudge sundaes, up to the point where she saves it to go to the city and live in a museum and sleep in a historical bed the description of which i STILL remember, approximately 15 years later.

seeing as this does not seem like too much to ask for, i will begin my wait now.

part of a project i'm doing where i review books i read a long time ago and think about hot fudge sundaes.

I found this book in a box I was organizing, and couldn't resist a reread. It enchanted me as a child, and the magic holds for adult me as well.

Reading this novel as an adult made me appreciate how Konigsburg tells her stories without talking down to child readers. There's a sense of being addressed as an equal and being treated like a real person in this book. And then there's the story itself.

The adventures of the Kincaids as they run away and hide out in the Met were my secret daydream growing up, and as I read, I found myself wanting a chance at that adventure once again. If you have any appreciation for the delights of knowledge and of knowing something no one else knows, you will love this book. It is such a keeper.

Another book my daughter and I read aloud to each other. I found it just as thrilling as I did when I read it as a kid. One thing struck me: How far we've sunk in our knowledge of English grammar. I envy Claudia in her certainty of always knowing the proper way to say something.

Just a Note for Ms. Vella: this essay is for Mr. James class, I used
- "they say but I say" (introductory paragraph)
- "T-BEAR" (body paragraphs)
I hope I am allowed to post like this. (It can't count as an exceeding review because it's for a class).
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Prompt: How is "FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER"(cannot italicize on Goodreads) a Coming of Age book?
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The majority of young people choose to immediately tell a secret to a friend when they discover one. However, the secret then loses its meaning. If people wish to keep a secret's value, they shouldn't tell others about it. Instead, they should cherish it passionately like their very own treasure, and they would be the only ones aware that the secret exists. A felicitous example of this case is in Elaine Konigsburg's "From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", where Claudia discovers the secret of the Angel. Claudia comes of age in the duration this book described by learning that the only person she really has to feel like a hero to is herself.
Children are always moaning and complaining about how unfairly they are treated. In the novel, Claudia is upset that as the oldest child in her immediate family, she was "subject to a lot of injustice" (6). She also found it unfair that she had to "empty the dishwasher and set the table on the same night while her brothers got out of everything"(6). Claudia feels, like many other children, that her parents need to "learn a lesson about Claudia appreciation"(7), so she decides to run away to achieve this. It just so happens that her destination was the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
With her companion and brother, Jamie, Claudia boards the train to New York. After settling in the Museum, Claudia decides on the second day that if they were hiding out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they might as well learn about it. They were going to "learn all about a different gallery"(47) each day. This shows that Claudia is transforming from solely thinking about running way to discovering a great life lesson. In their effort to expand their knowledge, they stumble upon a mysterious statue, the Angel. The mystery about the Angel is whether Michelangelo sculpted it himself. After a week at the Museum, Claudia and Jamie extremely wanted to find out the answer to the mystery, so they were off to a new destination: Mrs. Basil's apartment.
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This document is just a sample, the rest of the essay won't be included.

I have to admit that I'm pretty disappointed in this one. The premise of kids running away to and living in the Metropolitan Museum of Art sounded pretty fantastic, but it really wasn't very exciting at all. There was a lot of "filler" dialogue and constant rambling on that didn't really drive the story. The "secret" about Angel just seemed pretty anti-climactic. Half of the book seemed devoted to describing bathing, eating, and planning things, and the "mystery" aspect just got lost. Claudia was really kind of a selfish brat, and her banter with Jamie seemed less charming and witty and more petulant. It just could have been so much better.

What child doesn't dream of running away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

This was one of my favorite books as a child. The adventure of two kids running away to New York City and hiding in a museum was fascinating to me. In addition, they get to solve a mystery, which appealed to me even more strongly.

I agree with another reviewer who says that it was the details of the book that drew her in: packing their clothes in their instrument cases, the way they spent money, the wonder that Claudia feels as she gets to experience the museum after closing time. All of these are exquisitely detailed.

As an adult re-reading this, I'm surprised by how much I enjoy it even now. I think that part of the reason is the children themselves. They're drawn as real children: they squabble, they're irrational and irritable, and they think like children do. That's what makes them so interesting.

Hilarious, whimsical, rather unrealistic, but still a ton of fun!

I loved this book so much as a child and it was a pleasure to revisit it all these years later. Who didn't fantasize about running away from home and having a wonderful adventure like Claudia and Jaimie? As an adult I love going to the Met, so the fact that they chose the museum to run away to appealed to me even more now.

I didn't remember much of the story, but one detail that always stuck in my mind was how the siblings took a bath in the fountain and used the coins that people tossed in to supplement their income. The other thing I remember is the same feeling I had when I finished it this time: it ended too soon. I would have loved a few more details about what happened after; how did their family and friends react to the whole thing, did they really visit Mrs. BEF, etc. But overall a charming, enjoyable story.