5 stars for this old favourite!

I love children's books that don't dumb things down. E.L. Konigsburg never over-explains anything, she simply expects the reader to follow along and figure things out. She totally nails the interactions between the kids without ever becoming too "cute".

Although this book is somewhat dated, it's still thoroughly enjoyable, and I would hate to see it fall the way of so many children's classics that are modernized through heavy-handed (and often random) insertions of today's technology.

I never read this book as a child, I had no idea it even existed. At the urging of several GR friends I picked it up last night and spent a very enjoyable few hours. What could be more enchanting than the story of two kids who run away from home and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City? A brother and sister with bulging pockets of pennies and nickels, sleep in a 400 year old curtained bed by night, bathe in the museum’s fountain and eat in the cafeteria by day. When the museum acquires an enchanting sculpture of an angel with uncertain origin, the kids decide to get to the bottom of the mystery. Delightful!

Don’t you love discovering little gems by chance, especially from reading other books?

Ever since I read Dash & Lily's Book of Dares back in 2011, I was tempted to find this classic of children’s literature. This year, I finally got a copy and ended up loving it. Konigsburg puts together a charming tale of two siblings who run away from home to go and live in a museum in New York. Brilliant idea! Who wouldn’t want to do that? The story while set in the late 1960s is also timeless, and not what I was expecting. The few illustrations were a surprising bonus.

N.B. I do recommend this particular edition since they have used fabulous Munken paper!

3.5 stars.

From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler has a few important life lessons.
When Claudia and one of her younger brothers, Jamie, runaway from home, they have everything under control.

But they discover a mystery and they want to do anything they could and more to discover it.

It went slower than I expected or wished for, but even so, the story was humorous (Jamie killed it!) and in spite of the very long chapters, the story flows fast and natural.
The last part was the best! I adored Mrs. Basil and the twist at the end was unexpected.

All in all, I definitely recommend this gem. :)

A very sweet story of two young siblings running away...to the Metropolitan Museum of Art!!!

Such a good story! It was simple but also original. I love it when children's stories give insight into human nature and convey some wisdom in a way that is natural and accessible to children. E. L. Konigsburg is very clever at doing just this.
I especially loved the emphasis the author puts on experiencing our humanity fully without incessantly searching for knew knowledge and thrills to get some kind of high. I often indulge myself in the postmodern trend of always wanting to learn new facts or gain some kind of new experience without ever stopping to just wonder at the amazing world we inhabit and soak it in. This passage, spoken by Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, was my favorite in the book:
"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."
Never forget to just BE people.

Such a fun book! It was well written and gripping. It’s one of those books that makes you want to live on your own for the adventure, kind of like the Boxcar Children.

I had not planned on reading this novel, but I found this book on a random book shelf in my house, so I decided to give it a go. I feel like this is one of those books I should have read at least once sometime during my childhood, but I just never got to it. Well, I did in fact enjoy this book. I rated this novel four stars because although I did like it a lot, I just didn’t love it. It was pleasurable reading about the adventure that Claudia and Jamie had. This adventure/runaway ended up lasting several days. In my opinion they were brave and imaginative kids because I would have never done what they did or probably thought of the solutions they did. When you’re young like them many aspects in life seem simple and possible. Even though many of the incidents that occurred are unlikely to happen in real life they worked out great in this novel. At first I was wondering why they would choose to stay at a museum out of all the possible places they could have chosen in New York City. It wasn’t until later on when the plot unfolded that it was clear to me why this was an ideal place. Throughout this whole novel, I couldn't help but to wonder how devastated and scared their parents must have been while they were embarking on an adventure! This is a novel that is entertaining, a quick read, and has an insightful message. Also, this is random but I learned that Nouilles et fromage en casserole is basically Macaroni and Cheese.

Aaawww. That's my initial thought after this book.

This was simply quirky and heart-warming and therefore the perfect Advent read! Not to mention that I found out about it from another book (and no wonder that Dash & Lily would know and love this tale).

12-year-old Claudia has a problem: she feels underappreciated in her family and treated unfairly, too. Her solution: running away. Well, actually running to (that makes much more sense to her). Thus, she decides to leave home and hide away in the Met (the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC) until her family has learned their lesson. Since she'll need funds to do that, she decides to take her brother Jaimie on the trip as well. What a bonding experience this turns out to be for the two!
They make it to the museum and live there until a mysterious but gorgeous statue is sold to the museum cheaply. They are convinced it's by the famous sculptor Michelangelo but then why was it so cheap?!
The two decide to investigate and thus meet the titular Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (who has not just one secret that the two need to discover).

Most adventure stories for/with children are far too overblown in their plot - simple isn't always boring/bad and this book proves it.

A wonderful adventure for young and old full of wit (Claudia's plan really was genius and she really had thought of everything) and charm and a lot of funny scenes!
I chuckled regularly and was delighted from start to finish. This should be heralded as a classic that everyone should know!

I read this years ago as a child and just finished re-reading it with my 7-year-old son. It actually touched off a lot of interesting discussions about what has changed and what has stayed the same in the years since the book was first published in 1967 (my son piped up with all kinds of objections throughout the book, like "what about the motion detectors and the lasers around the art?"). Of course today admission is no longer free at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no one is allowed to bring in backpacks and instrument cases, and it took me a good 20 minutes to explain to my son what a typewriter was and how it's different from a computer keyboard. Given these dramatic changes in technology and security, it's even more to Mrs. Konigsberg's credit that her book has endured throughout the decades, remaining as relevant and compelling as ever to each new generation of children and inspiring their interest in museums and art history. There is a terrific issue of Museum Kids available for free download on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's web site, written for kids, that includes an article written by the author about how she was inspired to write the book, as well as follow-up information to help kids find the different exhibits described in the book. It also tells which exhibits have been changed or removed, including the restaurant fountain which now resides in South Carolina.

When we get right down to it, this short YA novel from the late '60s has everything a bookworm needs while growing up. A little rebellion, a little running away, and a lot of time spent in a museum. You know, the kind of thing that absolutely leads to heroin and smack.

These troubled kids.

Seriously though, I liked the mystery and adventure and liked it even more because it was referenced directly in Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. A spiritual successor? Maybe!

Definitely worth the read.

Another book I missed when I was the "right" age to read it. I tried to judge it as I would have when I was ten, and not as a 50-year-old appalled at the ungrateful brat protagonists. I'd have enjoyed it quite a bit, I think.

Reader was good.