I’ve been  wanting to revisit From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg for a long while.  The copyright on this book is 1965.  I’m pretty sure I read it when I was the same age as protagonist Claudia Kincaid, so I’m guessing that was a half century ago and yet, for many years of late, I would bring this book up in conversation with students anytime we talked about field trips.  I had wanted them or at least one of them to read it before we took the three different bus trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan between 2006 and 2008.

Once arrived (all three times!), my students behaved in similar fashion to those descriptions Claudia makes about other children as relayed in deposition manner to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – ungrateful, inconsiderate, not really wanting to learn anything, etc.  None of them wanted to hide in the museum either or solve a big mystery.   Poo-poo on them.

I remembered the bit in the story about the siblings running away from home to hide in the Met – I couldn’t remember why, how they did it and how Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler fit into the story.

It was a refreshing reread and impressive to find Claudia and her somewhat reluctant brother having their adventure include learning…and research!  It was also evident to me why this book resonated with my twelve-year-old self and why on the reread all these years later I sobbed uncontrollably once I got to the final page.

This is a story about propelling oneself in the direction of adventure and dreams, of willing oneself to plan and execute an idea eliminating fear of future consequences in order to fulfill some ethereal secret dream.  It was relatable to me then and more so now.

In many ways I am Claudia, both pre-teen and adult Claudia simultaneously and I’m also Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, although not quite as old AND I’m Elaine Konigsburg, do you know what I mean?  Because those dreams you have as a kid – they never leave you and when you are older and you review your progress, you kind of find out that you are either rolling out new dreams to chase or encouraging others to dream big.  And running away as a means to authenticity is very appealing.

As you begin to read the first chapter, you learn about Claudia (Claude)  Kincaid and her brother James (Jamie).  You think this is just a third person perspective thingy until you realize that Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is narrating the whole scenario as expressed in a letter to her lawyer.  It’s a genius POV because the audience learns who she is but not why she knows this stuff until the moment that the characters’ lives intersect.

There were no Amber Alerts back in 1965.  The frantic parents are mentioned but not so much to invoke a fear-based drama or the potential for a horror story.  And it is also not an instruction pamphlet on how to run away from a nice suburban home in Connecticut.

It’s more about being heard.  It’s about being responsible about an irresponsible choice.  It’s ultimately about being seen authentically as well.  Being seen and heard.  I mean, you’ll have to read it and decide that between-the-lines stuff for yourself.  The message is not just for kids.

Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is eighty-two and she is preparing her will, revising her will, selling artwork from her vast collection and preparing to down-size.  She is a wealthy widow who is still spry with her wits about her.  She is like a kind fairy god-mother to these children.

Elaine passed away in 2013.  She was eighty-three.  In the afterward portion of my copy of the book, one she’d added for the book’s thirty-fifth anniversary, she shared some anecdotes with regard to writing the book, researching the landscape and fictionalizing the part about Michaelangelo.  I really fell in love with this woman I did not ever know, because her depth of character was just…epic.

I got my copy of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg from the public library.  You can also purchase a copy here.