From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Newbery Winner 1968

This book rides that crazy line between absolutely timeless and absolutely dated. Claudia and Jamie are those children characters that fall into the category of being smart, well-written, and… real. E.L. Koningsburg had children close to the ages of her characters and you can tell that she used her observations of her children to create a realistic portrayal for Claudia and Jamie.

I first read this when I was much younger and seemed to feel it was a mystery. On this reread I realize that this is a straight up coming-of-age story, the Claudia (and to a lesser extent Jamie) are trying to solve a mystery – or as Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler later tells them, ‘uncover a secret’. We as the readers are not particularly involved in the solving process. 

I think the best part of this is the problem-solving but indulgent Claudia, with her elaborate plans to run-away to the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, have to work with her thrifty (but ‘rich’) and utterly practical younger brother. They make a great team-up, working together well but also butting heads a fair amount of the time.

Koningsburg obviously thought out each detail of living in the museum and the shenanigans the kids get up to are the timeless part. However, the cost of things is and outdated technology immediately let you know you are reading something decades old. No matter, this book continues to charm readers a half-century later.

This book is sort of an inspiration to all aspiring writers. Like so many before her E.L. Koningsburg was a mother with a dream of being a writer, she wrote whenever she could and eventually sent in two manuscripts. Her first two books From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Jennifer, Hectate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (fan of long titles much?) were published in the same year and both were noticed by the committee. Mixed-Up Files won the Newbery and Jennifer, Hectate was honored, to this day Koningsburg is the only author to receive an honor and win in the same year.