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

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

E.L. Konigsburg

1968 * p. 162 * YA Fiction

Claudia, the oldest of four children, decides that she wants to run away. She is 12 years old and feeling under appreciated by her parents. But she has no money. She spends it all on fudge sundaes. So she decides to pick her favorite brother, Jamie (9), because he is rich and saves all his money. (which he mostly earns by cheating at cards on the school bus.) They keep their plans a secret, and runaway to the Metropolian Museum of Art in New York City.

The sibings hide in the museum as it is closed every night. They sleep in antique French furniture, bathe in the fountain, and roam the museum. When a new addition to the museum comes, Claudia is spellbound. It is a small statue of an Angel. The rumor is that it was possibly carved by Michelangelo. Angel becomes the siblings' obsession, particularly Claudia's. She must find out if Michelangelo carved it, or she will go home humiliated.

I love both Claudia and Jamie's characters. I love a part in the book where they are looking at Angel and Claudia says she wishes she could hug it.

"I still say that it's too bad we can't touch her," Claudia complained.

"At least we're living with it. We're the only two people in the world who live with it."

"Mrs. Franweiler did, too. She could touch..."

"And hug it," Jamie teased.

"I'll bet she knows for sure if Michelangelo did it."

"Sure she does," Jamie said. He then threw his arms around himself, leaned his head way back, closed his eyes, and murmured,"Every morning when she got up, Mrs. Frankweiler would throw her arms about the statue, peer into its eyes, and say, 'speak to me, baby.' One morning the statue ans..."

Claudia was furious. "The men who moved it last night hugged it when they moved it. There's all kinds of hugging" (89).

Claudia is the typical know-it-all big sister and a spendthrift and schemer. Jamie teases, is a penny-pincher, and loves complications. :)

I read this book in either 6th or 7th grade. I could barely remember it before I read it again just a few days ago. I wish I could stow away in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, swim in a fountain, and hug a statue.

-Reading level: grade 6 & up

-Completely appropriate

-Themes of becoming an adult, self-sufficiency, becoming an individual, enjoying learning

-Contains illustrations

-Won numerous awards