The Mixed-up Files Of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, is about a girl named Claudia and her younger brother Jamie. The book begins with Claudia’s decision to run away from home in Connecticut to hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, because she didn’t feel appreciated at home. She took her younger brother with her because he had the most money. The narrator of this story is Mrs. Frankweiler telling her lawyer Saxonberg the children’s story.
In the book, once Claudia and Jamie made it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Claudia told Jamie that she wanted to learn everything about everything in the museum. So that day they went to learn about the Italian Renaissance. They saw a big line so they waited to see what was at the front. That’s when they found a sculpture that changed their whole plan. They saw Angel, a 2 foot statue that might be the work of Michelangelo. That is an important part of the story because they then focused on only finding evidence to prove that Michelangelo was the sculptor who made Angel. Claudia then decided to not learn everything about everything, but to only learn everything about Angel. That was important because Angel, even though he’s a statue, becomes a very important character in the book after that.
Claudia is very adventurous, because she takes a trip from Connecticut to New York to hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art with nothing but her backpack and trumpet case full of clothes. Claudia is also responsible. She took care of her younger brother without letting him or herself go hungry or get sick. Claudia is independent, because she makes sure everything is alright and nothing goes wrong with no help from an adult. Mrs. Frankweiler said to the lawyer Saxonberg, “Angel became part of Claudia’s story about finding herself, about how the greatest adventure lies not in running away but in looking inside, and the greatest discovery is not in finding out who made a statue but in finding out what makes you.”
I enjoyed this book because it was interesting and it taught me a lot about Michaelangelo such as he signed all his work with a M on it. It had some challenging words in it but the story made sense. I really liked their story and hearing about all the things they did in the museum, like taking a bath in the fountain and hiding from the night watchman. I would definitely recommend this book. It is really fun to read and super interesting. This book doesn’t remind me of any other book or movie. I think that there is no other book or movie like this book because Claudia’s not running from somewhere, she is running to somewhere. I rate this the book the highest rating of five stars.
