Not so great; no favorite of mine.

Absolutely loved it when I was a kid, and absolutely loved it again as an adult. While the Newbery medalists of late have tended towards dry, very non-kid friendly fiction (I have never seen a child give even a second glance to The Higher Power of Lucky or Criss Cross, no matter the endorsement), this book absolutely deserves every bid of adulation it's been given. Claudia and Jamie's adventure feels just as fresh as ever, and while Manhattan has definitely gone through some major changes since the book was first published in 1967, it still feels like the same city as it did when their train first drops them off at Grand Central. The 2002 edition's afterward by E.L. Konigsburg makes note of what the city would have been like had Claudia and Jamie made their journey 35 years later. Prices would have been higher, Olivetti's typewriter shop would definitely not exist, and they woud have had to find alternative places to sleep at the Metropolitan Museum as the bed they slept on has since been dismantled. However, the book's adventure, and it's intelligence in no way feel dated or irrelevant. Nor will I'm sure if I were to pick it again in another 25 years.

From the Mixed-up Files of
Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
By E.L. Konigsburg

This is a delightful story for children of all ages. I'm wondering why I never discovered this book when I was a kid?

Claudia is planning to run away. She wants a different life, than that of the oldest child, with so many responsibilities. Her brother Jamie doesn't know it yet, but she has chosen him to be her companion. One reason she has chosen Jamie, is because he is good with money. Claudia usually spends her money on hot fudge sundaes, but Jamie has saved over twenty dollars.

Claudia plans for them to take a train to New York City, and stay in the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts. Hiding out, being hungry most of the time, and walking in order to save money, the two children experience the adventure of a lifetime. They also get involved in the mystery of an angel statue, which was sold to the museum by Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Could the angel statue be a real Michelangelo? Only Mrs. Frankweiler knows for sure.

Will Claudia and Jamie get caught in the museum? Will they run out of money, and need to go home, before solving the mystery? Does their family really miss them? Can they find Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? Will she be willing to help them, if they do find her?

I recently spent the night in The Museum of Ancient History, in Draper Utah, with two of my granddaughters. They call it Dino-snores. We slept right under the tail of a huge dinosaur. There is definitely something intriguing about sleeping in a museum, especially when the lights go out.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Author: Through the Rug
Through The Rug 2: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)
Stowaway: The San Francisco Adventures of Sara, the Pineapple Cat

This was written in 1967ish, and I can see why it holds its own through the years. There are some humorous moments and an interesting plot and good characters. The writing is great. I was just kind of bored through much of it. I’m not 12, and I’m not from the 60s.

I was never quite sure why Claudia insisted on running away if it wasn’t going to be permanent. And how on earth did she decide hang out in a museum the whole time? I got annoyed when she corrected her brother’s grammar, mostly because she was wrong most of the time. And I didn’t find the mystery of the statue very interesting.

Book Blog

As a kid, I always fantasized about living in the school, or a library, or even church. Just for something different. This book so perfectly taps into that fantasy, that I read it over and over as a kid, practically salivating over the ingeniusness of it. If had lived anywhere NEAR New York, I would have followed this book like a blueprint . . .

January 1967 Birthday Read

I want to go back to 1967, where it was free admission to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the daily New York Times cost a dime. And I want to be 12-years-old and live in the Met! This was another great read that I think I missed as a young reader. Brother and sister runaways, a little bit of a mystery, and a whole lot of art, this was a really fun read!

I loved this book as a kid. I love this book as an adult. It's purely delightful, and I'm so glad I revisited it.

I'd totally forgotten that this was entirely narrated by Mrs. Frankweiler! She made me think of Helen Mirren a lot. Same sort of no-nonsense aura that Mirren portrays so well.

ספר הרפתקאות מקסים.
כנראה מדובר בקלסיקה אמריקאית וממש כיף שתרגמו את זה עכשיו לעברית. הוצאת אוקיינוס ממש הרימה את הכפפה שזמורה ביתן הפילו עם ההידרדרות של סדרת מרגנית.
קלודיה מחליטה לברוח מהבית, אבל אסור לטעות, את לא החלטה ספונטנית. קלודיה יודעת שזה מצריך הרבה מחשבה ותכנון ומגייסת גם את אחיה הצעיר ג'יימס.
בזמן הבריחה שלהם הם נתקלים בפסל של מלאכית שאולי פוסל על ידי מיכאלנג'לו, הם מחליטים לגלות לכ מה שהם יכולים על הפסל, וחייהם לא יהיו אותו הדבר.
ממש כיף לקרוא על מערכת יחסים כל כך אמיתי בין אח ואחות. אין פה את האהבה חסרת הגבולות שקצת מאפיינת ספרים חדשים יותר (הקרבה עצמית על מנת להציל את האח/ות הקטן/ה) אבל זה לא אומר שאין שם אהבה. יש שם גם הרבה חילוקי דעות ולדעת בדיוק מה להגיד לשני כדי להכאיב. לפי שעתי כל מי שיש לו אחים יזדהה עם מערכת היחסים.
הסיפור טוב באופן כללי והמסר שלו מניין, גם אם אני לא בטוחה שאני כל כך מסכימה איתו.

This has been sitting on my shelf for a couple years.
I like the idea of running away to a museum and hiding out and having an adventure and a mystery to solve.
This book was just kind of boring to me. I thought Jamie was cute but I didn’t like Claudia. I never liked “know it all” little girls when I was young. As an adult they are just as annoying ha ha
I like having an experience change you and help you grow but I couldn’t tell if there was one for these kids.

Not a fan of this book. The little girl was annoying and controlling and it didn't really make sense why she got so hooked on the Angel (or why she ran away in the first place). And it really annoyed me that Mrs Frankweiler kept pausing in her story telling to yell at her lawyer. It made her sound like a jerk but they make her be this awesome person for the kids. There wasn't much point to the book and not enough happened to keep you interested.

A beautiful story about a brother and sister running away and deciding to live at the metropolitan museum of art. They get embroiled in a mystery about who's the creature of an angel statue. Read from the first person point of view narrative of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, it gives a different kind of insight into the children's motives and behaviors since we are really seeing the events from the outside. The book is unique and heartwarming, and I especially enjoyed the relationship between the brother and the sister, which reminded me of the spats and moments I had with my siblings as a child. Being a homeschooling mom, I try to read the books with my kids so we can discuss. This was one of those books. I believe the biggest thing that attributes to it being a classic is how it relates and portrays the human condition. In a very simple but elegant way it denotes how we are all searching for something for ourselves. Something like Claudia's secret. Something only we know that no one else does that makes us feel special. I also feel that E.L. Konigsburg's view on education is a good one - learning without speculation is meaningless. We have to take what we learn and figure out how we can use it and apply it to our own lives. While this might not necessarily be a new concept, I believe it's portrayed in a unique enough way to give it additional credence to being a classic. It does and will have longevity in that it's a book that I believe will be enjoyed through the ages. So it's a children's classic that I highly recommend. I leave you with one of my favorite quotes.

After hearing Claudia pronounce that everyone should learn one new thing a day, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler replied,



" No," I answered, "I don't agree with that. I think you should learn, 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. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

Wonderful.