What I’m Reading – From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

*Spoilers*

I recently read From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.

The book is about Claudia, a fastidious and thoughtful girl of 11, and her frugal, cunning younger brother Jamie. They run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The main character, Claudia, decided that if she was going to run away, she wanted to do so in comfort. Which I think was pretty smart on her part.

The writing is simple and easy to read. Most of the book is about the children hiding out in the museum and trying to be frugal with their money. Only toward the end does it start to evolve Claudia’s desire from simply teaching her parents a lesson to wanting to feel different before she returned home.

I can understand her desire to feel different. Going through the trouble of running away only to go back still feeling the same seems like a waste. Of course you’d want the experience to change you in some way. In the end, she did go home different because she learned Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler’s secret. If I read this when I was a kid, I could see myself enjoying imagining running away so successfully, like Claudia and Jamie. At least I can see my ten-year-old self enjoying it.

It is a children’s book, but it’s also a classic. It’s short, less than 200 pages. I enjoyed finally reading it. The illustrations are not that great, but there are only a few of them. The story is told by Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which is a unique way to tell a story. She frequently adds her own commentary and talks about how she assumes things happened because she wasn’t there to know for sure. Overall a good read for kids or adults who never got around to reading it.

Rating: 6/10