Such a fun little read. I have heard people talking about this story and I finally got around to reading it. I love that it takes place in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It's fun to see how cheap things were in the 60s. Great book.

Un libro infantil, divertido, recreativo y llevadero.

Para ser un libro infantil creo que debería ser un poco más ágil y entretenido, pero bueno, es lo que hay.

A truly charming story. I especially enjoyed the ending.

I defy you to tell me you didn't, at some point in your life, want to run away and live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. E.L. Konigsburg so perfectly captures the ultimate fantasy of any child who has ever visited this amazing place so brilliantly it almost feels like I got to go too. I DEMAND that you make your children read this and yell "YOU CALL YOURSELF A BIBLIOPHILE!" at you if you haven't read it yourself.

12/30/20

Re-read this for the first time in years as a bed time read aloud for my sons. There's nothing more wonderful than rediscovering a childhood favorite and experiencing in an entirely different, equally wonderful, way.

I would read a hundred books narrated by Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler, the lovely, ancient, melancholy millionairess who tells the story of two disaffected suburban children on a grand adventure as runaways in the greatest museum in the world. She's hilarious, very wise and sadder than I remember and I imagine she speaks in that lovely, Gatsbian fake English accent they taught in NY finishing schools in the 30's. She probably weighs fifty pounds soaking wet and dresses in perfectly tailored cashmere sweaters and tweed skirts.

You can practically feel her longing to be part of Jamie and Claudia Kincaid's story and just a bit under the surface is her longing to be part of their lives.

This is one of those perfect books that is just as good now as when it was written. Yes you'll have to explain to your kids what an automat is and (this was painful) a telephone booth but its well worth it.

This book has been on my TBR forever, and now that I’ve finally read it, I understand its popularity.
The book is charming, and I loved the spunkiness and independence of its main characters, and how they run away from home on elder sister Claudia’s insistence, following her carefully laid out plans, which took them by train to New York City, then to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I liked how the kids found ways to keep themselves amused, fed and clean, with both kids growing more appreciative of the other's qualities, such as Claudia's head for planning, and Jamie's handle on finances. I particularly enjoyed the siblings' encounter with the straight-talking Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler about one of her donations to the Met, and how the piece had been so appealing to the three.
This was such an enjoyable story, and I thought the idea of the two kids escaping to the big city and having a weeklong adventure was just so appealing, which explains the book’s staying power.

One of the highlights of parenting is rereading my childhood favorites with my crew. This story enthralled me then and enchanted them now.

And it's no secret that this story, in part, inspired The Sky at Our Feet. Bold children and New York City make for an irresistible combination.

Cleanliness:

Children's Bad Words
Mild Obscenities & Substitutions - 15 Incidents: stupid, boloney, blasted
Name Calling - 5 Incidents: brat, nutty, blabbermouth, stupid
Religious Profanity - 13 Incidents: gosh, for goodness' sake, heaven knows, thank goodness,

Religious & Supernatural - None
Violence - None

Romance Related - 3 Incidents: "Claudia always dreaded that brief moment when her pajamas were shed and her underwear was not yet on.” “Her art teacher had said that the Renaissance was a period of glorification of the human form: as best she should figure out, that meant bare bodies. Many painters of the Italian Renaissance had painted huge billowy, bosomy naked ladies. She was amazed at Jamie; she thought he was too young for that. He was. She never considered the possibility that he wanted her to be bored.” References a “great bare lady in the painting upstairs.”

Illustrations - 2 Incidents: Children are shown naked in a fountain with full anatomical shots being shown in semi-realistic pencil drawings. Portrait of a naked woman in semi-realistic pencil drawings.

Attitudes/Disobedience - 9 Incidents: A girl says about her little brother: “Steve is one of the things in my life that I’m running away from.” A boy confesses that he gambles. He and his friend play the card game “war” for money. A girl calls her little brother “Kevin Brat.” A boy confesses that he cheats his friend at cards in order to make money. A girl steals a man’s newspaper. A girl lies to cover up that she didn’t know something. A girl and boy talk about why they aren’t too homesick. The girl says “it’s really their [parents] fault if we’re not homesick.” A boy lies about why he is not in school. A girl says part of the reason for running away was because she was mad at her parents.

Conversation Topics - 8 Incidents
The kids discuss the difference between angels and cupids, one being a Christian and one being pagan. The kids find a candy bar. The sister tells the boy not to eat it because it could be filled with marijuana and he could become a dope addict. A boy thinks telepathy will work so tries to send a message to his sister. “Jamie reminded Claudia to say she was sorry for stealing the newspaper [in her prayers]. That made it officially Sunday.” Mentions a worker drinking beer. A boy thinks his sister might be committing suicide. (She is not; just taking a bath).” A lady won a statue because she was a good poker player. A boy wants to visit an old lady again and says they can just tell their parents “that we’re going bowling or something.”

Parent Takeaway
The premise of the story is a girl deciding to run away from home. At first, she runs away because she's mad at her parents (for giving her so many chores) and for being tired of her siblings (though she takes one of her brothers along with her). It's not supposed to be taken too seriously. She ends up finding out that what she really wanted was an adventure and a chance to come back feeling different, like a "hero" somehow. The sister and brother get along well as they work together, planning their escape to a museum (for they still need to keep up their learning). They make sure to wear clean underwear each day, take a bath and wash their clothes too, as all proper running-away schemes should be carried out. The story ends with them solving a mystery regarding a statue at the museum.

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This was my son's first book he read entirely in English (he is a rapid read of books in French already!) so I felt I needed to read it too. What a pleasant surprise! We both loved Jaime and Claudia and their adventures while running away and camping out in the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. It is a touching book with lots of life lessons; my favorite quote is "Happiness is excitement that has found a settling place, but there is always a corner of it that keeps flapping around." (P 155)
I have to thank NH Senzai's excellent Shooting Kabul for referring to this book because otherwise I would have missed it!
I would consider this required children's reading for the timelessness of its characters and the nostalgic value of what life was like in Manhattan back in the late 60s. Splendid!

Oh my god, I have been trying to remember this book for YEARS. When I was in elementary school, my entire grade watched the movie adaptation of this book in the auditorium together. I could not remember the name for the life of me, and I'm so happy I stumbled upon it! I MUST read this soon.

Superior story, still works well even in today's highly digital world. The appeal of kids living in a museum is timeless and fun. I learned all about Michelangelo from this book, so there's that!

I'm old enough to have read this when it was appropriate to my age, but unfortunately, I just now got around to it. That's a pity, because it is a splendid little book. My family also lived in the suburbs of New York about when this was written, although I can't recall any field trip to the Met.

The children, especially, have distinctive and interesting characters, but are far from being the "miniature adults" so common in children's books.

It was also a wonderful vacation from the adult world. There was recently a mass shooting, leaving dozens dead. Does it matter which one? I decided to donate blood, and because I've got a relaxed schedule, the blood bank convinced me to donate platelets/aphaeresis, which takes a lot longer. I was able to read this entire little jewel in the two hours I was hooked up to that annoying machine.

If you haven't read this, do so.

We expected to like this book a lot, on the whole we liked it, we found it well written and it kept us guessing what would happen.

We enjoyed the start, the planning of running away was fun. The idea of running away to a museum really appealed to us, when I was small I so wanted to spend a night in a museum and look around whilst it was dark and quiet, so I was really looking forward to this part. We were both full of admiration that these runaways had remembered to take their musical instruments, full kudos for keeping up the practise whilst on the run  oh it was a trick to stow away their clothes on a music lesson day

We read this as a read aloud and after the beginning which we enjoyed it went a bit flat for us. For some reason we thought this might have some night time adventures in, but it didn't. I thought there might be some sort of magic or time slip or some interaction with history or art but there wasn't. The mystery of Angel didn't really interest either of us  it didn't interest us if Michael Angelo made the statue or someone else did really, if we liked something it would make it no more appealing to us to be made by someone famous, although we did like the way the evidence tied in with the will and why Mrs Basil. E. Frankweiler was narrating the story and talking to her solicitor.

We read a copy with an afterword by the author and two pages that were what the author described as, as close to a sequel as you will get.

We hoped Claudia and Jamie did go to see Mrs Basil. E. Frankweiler again, we liked her