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

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Author: E.L. Konigsburg
Series: Bucket List Middle Grade Books
Genres: Fiction, Middle Grade
Tag: Classics
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication Year: 1998
ASIN: 0689711816
ISBN: 0689711816

When Claudia and her brother, Jamie decide to run away, they don't just run anywhere: they make their home in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York. While there, they sleep in opulent beds, bathe in the fountain, and stumble on an art mystery that captures their imaginations. I adored this book as a kid and I think it's one I would still love as an adult. I loved the kids' resourcefulness, the fantasy of camping out in an amazing place like a museum, and I loved the idea that kids could be enthralled by--and potentially solve--a mystery that rocks the art world.

About the Book

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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 her younger brother Jamie has money and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along.

Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at auction for a bargain price of $225. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it?

Claudia is determined to find out. Her quest leads her to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue, and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.

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