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

Title: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Publication: 1967; Renewed 1995

Okay, so I came to my first "Literature and Informational Texts for Children and Young Adults" class at High Point University, and my teacher, Dr. Cavendish, kept mentioning the book above. It was in a lot of her slide pictures or she referenced it during her lectures. Bum bum bummm....I had never read or heard of it. Yes, I know this is sad. I'm sorry, I came from a family of math and science nerds, so please forgive me.

The first thing I did after that class was I went to the Barnes & Noble website and bought this book...along with all the other books that were under the "young adult novel have to read section." I really hate when I'm not clued in on things, so not knowing about this book was hopefully the last time I will feel like this when it comes to knowing classics.

When we had the first option to pick our own books, I knew this is what I would read because I needed to be "in the know" and educated on this book. My experience... I really enjoyed it!! It was a nice, easy read after having just done a presentation and section on historical fiction books (which tend to me a little more intense). I found myself easily flipping through the pages and finding myself enjoying this book as an "escape" from daily life. I believe this could be one of the reasons why Konigsburg wrote this book, and it definitely did that for me, even as an adult.

I enjoyed reading about the adventures of Claudia and Jamie, as they ran away from home to escape to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met). They encounter some issues with money, laundry, finding cheap meals, etc. along the way. But most intriguing of all, was the Angel!! Angel was a statue on show at the Met, which was supposedly crafted by Michelangelo...but it was a mystery to be solved. As a reader, you follow them along their journey to find out if he indeed was the true artist of this statue, how they finally solve the mystery, and lastly, make their way back home safe and sound.

For me, the most interesting part of the book was when they are trying to figure out the mystery behind the artist of Angel. I love mystery novels and shows, especially shows like CSI, Bones, or the Mentalist. So, this part of the novel really had me turing the pages. I found the first part to be a little slow, however very relatable for kids as they seek to escape the mundane routine of going to school. It would be fun as a young child to read about these two escaping daily life to live at a museum and figure out a mystery, altogether. There are parts that are a little antiquated - like nowadays there are so many security precautions that I believe this would not be realistic in today's age. However, the idea of them escaping the mundane to add some fun into their lives is relatable across time periods. I found myself thinking the whole time while I was reading, where could I run off to in today's time where I wouldn't be found or seen by security cameras or set of an alarm??? Not sure if there would be such a place, unless it was outside...kind of sad.

Overall, I believe this would be a great book to have kids read. I didn't realize it was published so long ago, so I'm not sure if it's too old to use in the classroom now. But I feel like it was a classic that I needed to read to be a teacher of literature. I felt like I jut added a piece to my puzzle of becoming a better and more informed, educated teacher. This book is a fun read for a person of any age. But also a great escapism read for young children who may want a mysterious but fun book to read.

I loved how the relationship between Claudia and Jamie progressed and grew over the course of the book. As Konigsburg says, noting the character change in the middle of the book,

" What happened was: they became a team, a family of two. There had been times before they ran away when they had acted like a team, but those were very different from feeling like a team...You might call is caring. You could even call it love. And it is very rarely, indeed, that it happens to two people at the same time - especially a bother and a sister who has always spent more time with activities than they had with each other" (Konigsburg, 39).

This type of character development could be very eye-opening for readers going through the adolescent years. These years are wrought with times of learning about themselves and others. Therefore, the relationship between Claudia and Jamie show that one can look beyond themselves to try to understand others and work as a team. But also teach them how to be self-aware and more observant of how they act and treat others.