From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg
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Read in January, 1978
recommends it for:
cleanse their reading palette of obligatory 5th grade reading
OK, I'll admit it: I freakin' hate the Newbery Medal. Any time I see it on the cover of a book, I'm 98.5% sure it sucks. All of the books that have been given this "honor" seem to have been written with the intent of teaching kids some crappy history lesson. There's no magic or mystery to any of them...reading these books is akin to eating dry toast when you know damned well you could cover the bread with butter, cinnamon, and sugar. I mean, if you really want to martyr yourself, do it...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to LeAnn by:
Mishele Myers mother-daughter book clubrecommends it for: Upper elementary
I actually listened to the CD version of this book with my 5 and 10 year olds, which was very entertaining (the 5 year old went off and listened to it by himself and laughed repeatedly at the character Jamie). The CD version allows Mrs. Frankweiler's voice to carry the story so that she is strong character long before the children meet her.
Having never read this book as a child, I'm glad that my own children got to experience it, especially since we live in New England and can appreciate the...more
Having never read this book as a child, I'm glad that my own children got to experience it, especially since we live in New England and can appreciate the...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Rebecca by:
My motherrecommends it for: Anyone who wants to get kids excited about art
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 allowe...more
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One of the things I remember most clearly about this book was being disappointed how long it took for "Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" herself to show up. Easily the most interesting character in the book, she doesn`t get a whole lot of stage-time, and when I closed the book I couldn`t help but feel a bit of, "well, what now?" Unfortunately, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler remains a very private person so the newspaper-esque barrage of "who! what! how! where!" and such will ju...more
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recommends it for:
elementary kids and older
Such a great book for elementary aged kids. I have read it several times, but the first time was in 5th grade. It definitely made me want to run away to a museum!
When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn't just want to run from somewhere she wants to run to somewhere--to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and preferably elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother, Jamie, has money and thus can hel...more
When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn't just want to run from somewhere she wants to run to somewhere--to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and preferably elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother, Jamie, has money and thus can hel...more
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Read in April, 2008
Claudia, a 6th grader in Greenwich, Connecticut is fed up with her family and their demands. She is running away and has a plan...but, for good measure she is taking her younger brother, Jamie with her. They run to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Claudia creates a sound plan, while Jamie has all the money ($24.43 to be exact). While hiding out at the museum, the city is in a twitter about an angel statue that has been acquired at an auction for $225. Some believe it is a long-lo...more
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Read in June, 2007
I know I started this book as a kid, but I read it (again?) the whole way through this summer.
Even though it would be over a decade before I stepped foot in New York City, I remember being really taken by Claudia's plan to run away and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (although I did case the joint the last time I was there, and I definitely would not sleep in the Louis XIV-era bed. That wing is freaking creepy, even in the daytime. I think I would go for something in the American ...more
Even though it would be over a decade before I stepped foot in New York City, I remember being really taken by Claudia's plan to run away and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (although I did case the joint the last time I was there, and I definitely would not sleep in the Louis XIV-era bed. That wing is freaking creepy, even in the daytime. I think I would go for something in the American ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Sarah by:
Marinrecommends it for: Kids
This was a cute kids book with a good message at the end: You only have to be a heroine to yourself.
I wasn't too fond of Saxonburg's role being in the book, but I love Mrs. Frankweiler! Jamie was comic relief and Claudia was every one of us recovering-perfectionistas. Cute story, clean book, not too adventuresome as most of the reviews indicated, although pretty irksome probably to worried parents, and a bit educational I think for everyone. A cute saying by Mrs. Frankweiler was somethi...more
I wasn't too fond of Saxonburg's role being in the book, but I love Mrs. Frankweiler! Jamie was comic relief and Claudia was every one of us recovering-perfectionistas. Cute story, clean book, not too adventuresome as most of the reviews indicated, although pretty irksome probably to worried parents, and a bit educational I think for everyone. A cute saying by Mrs. Frankweiler was somethi...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
Middle School Children
After reading another book from this author that I was disappointed in, I decided to try one of her award-winning books instead. This is a cute little story of a brother and sister who run away from home and live in a museum for a week. While at the museum they become involved in solving the mystery of a new art piece. The mystery of the book is good, and the way these two kids survive the week, for example, bathing, eating, etc., is amusing. And I would have recommended this book to younger kid...more
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recommends it for:
grownups longing for lost innocence and their children
my favorite book when i was a young girl. this goes in my all time top ten because when i re-read it today it still resonates. in this charming story a girl and her brother escape the pains of being pre-pubescent by running away to manhattan with her little brother and his savings account. but they don't just run away to the big city - they run away to the most grand and luxurious place she can think of - the Met. anyone who has been to the Met and appreciates the sheer magnitude of beauty a...more
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I read this when I was little and I LOVED it. I wanted so badly to do what they did. The closest I got was to try to hide in the library when my mom would come to pick me up hours after she dropped me off. I still want to do hide away and spend the night in a museum or library... For a grown-up version, check out Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore." An excerpt:
"On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in the corner of a small library....more
"On my fifteenth birthday I'll run away from home, journey to a far-off town, and live in the corner of a small library....more
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Somehow managing to mix class with complete innocence, this book has long been my favorite. The pubescent characters are charmingly stolid and matter of fact when it comes to the business of running away from home. Their target destination: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A great way to vicariously execute the once thrilling dream of running away. This book is perhaps appropriately outdated (written in the 60s) and coincidentally, the theme of ancient vs. modern is a running theme th...more
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Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
art lovers & children of all ages
Yes this is a children's book...but it's an amazing one! I think I first read this book sometime around 3rd grade, but it was just as good as I remember. It's even better now, since I've been to the Met and know exactly what they're talking about. (I especially loved seeing how little the Met has changed...looking at the pictures of the big pyramid and saying "I saw that last week!")
I think Claudia was one of my heros when I was a kid...I just didn't really realize it. I wouldn...more
I think Claudia was one of my heros when I was a kid...I just didn't really realize it. I wouldn...more
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recommends it for:
anyone
Again Loved this as a child when my teacher read it to the class. I found it with the help of my husband and just a sentance or two on the computer. I enjoyed reading it as much now as I did then! I knew the story line and could explain it well enough but I could not for the life of me remember the title let alone the author. I loved the idea of running away to a place full of fantastic things that I could enjoy by myself during the late hours. I would love to explore the store rooms of any ...more
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Read in May, 2007
While technically a re-read, I haven’t read it in, say, 12-ish years? I was watching Night at the Museum with some friends and realized that the movie reminded me of that great book I read as a kid about the brother and sister who ran away and slept in the Met Museum in NYC, which completely fascinated me when I was growing up, though I never had any real inclination to run away. Anyway, the book was fun to read, and brought back lots of memories of reading it for the first time - it makes me ...more
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Konigsburg is exceedingly good at two things as a children's author, the first being her ability to write very convincingly in first person when the narrating character is a child, and the second being creating a world where knowledge--yes indeed the very thing so many teachers plague the elementary student with by pulling out of textbooks and throwing on chalkboards--as something immediately interesting and worth seeking out. The concluding effect is that she identifies with her audience and le...more
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Read in January, 2008
2). This book had a subtlety that seems to be lacking in so many children's books. I enjoyed every aspect of it except the atrocious art work - ugh! blech! yuck!
Additionally my seven year old son LOVED it, and while his infatuation with all things New York right now may have swayed him a tad bit I did notice that he was more enthusiastic about this than other books we've read that take place in NY. In his words it's "a hundred million starts - if you can give a book that many stars&quo...more
Additionally my seven year old son LOVED it, and while his infatuation with all things New York right now may have swayed him a tad bit I did notice that he was more enthusiastic about this than other books we've read that take place in NY. In his words it's "a hundred million starts - if you can give a book that many stars&quo...more
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Read in January, 1998
I've been meaning to go back re-read a lot of Konigsburg's books, especially this one, Journey To An 800 Number and Up From Jericho Tel. I don't think I've read anything of hers since the '90s, but I remember her as being a much more cosmopolitan writer than most children's book authors, which I loved. This book, in particular, has been rattling around in my head since I...more
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Such a classic! Great story about two kids wandering around the Met having run away for no great reason, and the people they encounter. A real mini-adventure and fun to read as an adult.
QUOTES
"Finding a secret can make everything else unimportant, you know."
"Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around."
"After a time having a secret and nobody knowing you have a secret is...more
QUOTES
"Finding a secret can make everything else unimportant, you know."
"Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around."
"After a time having a secret and nobody knowing you have a secret is...more
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Read in April, 2008
This is another book I missed as a kid by being born too early. (It’s a tradeoff, of course; at least I got to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.)
Five years ago, just a few months before she died, my mother asked me to find this book for her. I had never heard of it and might not have remembered it except that I still have the little piece of paper on which she wrote the title for me.
I loved this wonderful and very funny tale of a grand adventure—about running away from home and hiding...more
Five years ago, just a few months before she died, my mother asked me to find this book for her. I had never heard of it and might not have remembered it except that I still have the little piece of paper on which she wrote the title for me.
I loved this wonderful and very funny tale of a grand adventure—about running away from home and hiding...more
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