Book Review: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Title: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

(Once again, lots of different editions are out there; if you buy this book in support of your favorite web site, and don't specify that you must have a particular edition, you'll get whichever is available at the best price.)

Author: E.L. Konigsburg

Date: 1967

Publisher: Atheneum / Dell

ISBN: 0-440-43180-8

Length: 162 pages

Illustrations: drawings by the author

Quote: “Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away...Therefore, she decided that her leaving home would not be just running from somewhere but would be running to somewhere. To a large place, a comfortable place, an indoor place, and preferably a beautiful place. And that’s why she decided upon the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

Claudia, age eleven, and Jamie, age nine, are bored in their comfortable suburban home. They hoard their pocket money and plan a clever “lesson in Claudia (and Jamie) appreciation” for their parents and brothers. They budget for food, laundry, and return train fare, and plan their own intensive course in art history to keep their minds active during their adventure.

Nevertheless, once they settle in at the museum, they’re still bored, and now they don’t even have school. Maybe that’s why they get involved in the question of who really made their favorite statue, and make friends with the donor, Mrs. Frankweiler.

More than that would probably spoil the suspense—this is a short, simple novel, accessible to middle school audiences. Let’s just say that it’s a very arty, upscale, urban, and funny story that readers from age ten up have been enjoying for fifty years. If you didn’t read it as a child, your inner child wants you to read it now.

(This web site thanks Dan Lewis for reminding us what a cool children's book this one was!)

You can probably find this book at a public library, in the Newbery winner collection, but you can also buy it to support this web site: $5 per book, $5 per package (three to five books of similar size can fit into the package), plus $1 per online payment, as discussed on the Payment Information Page. You can also order a Storybook Doll dressed like Claudia, Jamie, or both, for $10 per doll.