E. L. KonigsburgBesprekingen

Rereading this with my daughter was wonderful! The magic of running away to live in the MET still resonated, but I loved Claudia's journey to understand herself even more than I did as a child. Her exploration of her own motivations will stay with her much longer than her week in the museum. I loved that she and her brother Jamie have such different personalities when it comes to spending money and planning. They are forced to learn how to prioritize and compromise. And Mrs. Frankweiler is just delightful!

I was underwhelmed by this story of two girls pretending to be witches. There were several smile-inducing situations but for me most of it fell rather flat. This is the second book I've read by this author that just didn't impress me at all, especially considering it was a Newbery Honor winner. Meh.

I didn't like the sarcastic nature of all the characters in this book. I don't disagree that 6th graders may be sarcastic, but reading a book aloud to them that models it for them isn't what I'd like to do as a teacher. I won't be reading this book to the class or placing it in my classroom library. They can find it at the public library if they so wish.

What fun to read this again after nearly 40 years!

I remembered a few good sections and the exchange of characters leading each other back and forth,
but the ending in The Files was a true surprise.

(Just wish that, even in 1967, Mrs. Basil had moved to a happy smaller home and given away her money to poor folks.)

A mildly amusing story of a preteen who runs away to New York City, and takes her younger brother with her. I never felt a connection with the children, and didn't wonder how their adventure was going to end.

Upon reading this for the fourth or fifth time, I love it more than ever.

I'm adding it to my historical fiction shelf because everything I found objectionable about it when I was younger makes sense to me in light of what I know now about the 1950s and early 60s. Also, the writing is so clever that it's easy to suspend disbelief and just enjoy the delightful storytelling. Easily one of the most "historical" parts of this story is Claudia's attitude toward grammar. She was very concerned about Jamie's dangling prepositions. I'm sure Claudia would grow up to be the kind of person who wants to scream when someone uses "literally" to mean its opposite.

As is probably true of many everyday life books, The View from Saturday is all about the characters. I didn't really care that much about whether or not the four sixth graders won the knowledge bowl in the end; I just enjoyed reading about life from their perspectives.

Four chapters of the book are told first-person by each of the kids, and those were by far the best parts of the book. They're all really articulate, really thoughtful sixth graders who find each other and form a bond between them that involves this ritual of drinking tea on Saturdays, which is where the title comes from.

Yeah, drinking tea together on Saturdays is not the coolest thing in the world to your typical 11 or 12 year old, but it will appeal to readers who think of themselves as out of the mainstream, kids who can form their own ideas about what is cool. It's one of those books that's about appreciating how intelligent and complicated 11 or 12 year old people can be (at least from my adult perspective).

In the end, it's the idiosyncratic realness of the voices of the kids that makes this book so memorable and enjoyable. Some readers might argue that the kids are sort of unrealistically mature, kind, and intelligent, but I think extraordinary kids exist and are the kinds of characters that make for a really affecting read.

Got it in my head that I wanted to read E.L. Konigsburg's backlist. This fictionalized biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine is dated and missable, but no doubt inspired some kid in the 70s to grow up and become a medieval historian. Konigsburg's passion for the source material is obvious, and I did enjoy her sweet illustrations.

The upshot is that I do know quite a bit more about Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets than I did before. (Turns out that The Lion in Winter is ENTIRELY FICTIONAL, I am very offended and would like a refund please.)

Would I recommend this for a kiddo interested in medieval history? Sure, why not, but for goodness' sake supplement it with some newer books, preferably ones that center the experience of ordinary people living under the rule of these messy megalomaniacs.

This is just such a very excellent book! This is my second time reading it as an adult and I just loved it. What an adventure! I am setting up a Battle of the Books competition for my kids and this is one of our selections. I'm hoping some of them will love it as much as I do!

E. L. Konigsburg’s 1967 book “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” is a children's fiction classic. Written over fifty years ago, author E.L. Konigsburg's children’s literature classic highlighted the wonder of museums, and in particular, art museums. The popularity of Konigsburg's novel created a resurgence in museum attendance nationwide and ushered in a new era of museum security. You see, the central conceit (imagery) that the novel evokes is that of children running away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and living within its galleries.

Feeling unappreciated by her parents and bored with her orderly, straight-A existence, Claudia Kinkaid wants to go on an adventure and teach her parents a lesson. She is nearly twelve when she decides to run away from her home in suburban Connecticut. Being practical, she chooses a comfortable destination--New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art--and a thrifty traveling companion, her nine-year-old brother Jamie. Like Home Alone 2, Claudia and Jamie find out that New York is a great place to hideout. No one notices no one.

After careful planning, Claudia and Jamie arrive at the museum, hiding from the guards in the rest rooms, sleeping on priceless beds, and bathing in the fountain. But when a statue of an angel, rumored to be a possible Michelangelo, is given to the museum, Claudia decides they must solve the mystery. Their search leads them to the statue's original owner, eccentric Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, who narrates the story in a peppery letter to her lawyer. Mrs. Frankweiler both solves the mystery and helps Claudia understand why the secret of the statue is so important to her.

The novel reads as if we were watching a Wes Anderson film (In the director’s commentary for The Royal Tenenbaums DVD, Wes Anderson says the book inspired him to construct a mini-museum in a bank for Margot and Richie to “run away to.” Come on, Wes, make an adaptation). Konigsburg's novel is smart, quirky, and a pure delight (hence the comparison to Anderson films). The quest for the sculptor's identity is bound inextricably with Claudia's own search for self. The mystery is complicated, but the voice of Mrs. Frankweiler allows the author to clarify without ever seeming to lecture. An unusual choice for a children's-book narrator, 82-year-old Mrs. Frankweiler makes a precise and witty storyteller. She even saves one delicious secret for the very end that ties the story together nicely.

The novel has historical ties as well. According to the Smithsonian, "In October 1965, Konigsburg found specific inspiration—one that set the mystery at the heart of the book in motion. At the time, the New York art world was obsessed with the question of whether a sculpture purchased by the Met for $225 was actually a work by Leonardo da Vinci. (It is now believed to be a da Vinci from 1475.) Konigsburg reimagined the statue as “Angel,” the could-be-a-Michelangelo that captures Claudia’s imagination and leads her to the mansion of the titular Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler."(https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fifty-years-ago-two-kids-slept-over-met-museum-and-literary-classic-was-born-180963325/). Additionally, Konigsburg was influenced by her own children to write this classic novel.

Sadly, the novel's illustrations have not aged well but do not let that persuade you from reading this wonderful novel.

I enjoyed the part of the book where the kids first ran away, and the practical details about how they lived and hid.

I wasn't very interested in the statue aspect, though, or Mrs. Frankweiler. Had she been a little more involved in the story overall, it would have helped. She felt more like a means to an end than an integral part of the story.

Another New York themed books. A delightful tale of two young runaways and their voyage of discovery.

Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away...so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere. And so, after some careful planning, she and her younger brother, Jamie, escaped -- right into a mystery that made headlines!

I missed this one as a kid, not sure how or why. When I had to choose a "missed" book off the top 100 children's books to read for my History of Children's Literature course, this one jumped out at me because it was the inspiration for a part in my favorite movie, the Royal Tenanbaums.

Overall I thought it was great, but I would have liked a whole lot more of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Actually I would have liked a whole lot more of the whole book. :)

Two young characters encounter a mystery when they are already off on an adventure, running away from home, to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in Manhattan. The young duo want to be noticed and do something important before returning to their ordinary lives. The siblings interactions are realistic and humorous. Their adventure is suspenseful and keeps the reader engaged. The intrigue continues to the very end. Students will enjoy this book and may imagine what it would be like to stay the night in a museum. I couldn't put it down.

this was fun but wasn't what i remembered, and it didn't hold my kid's attention like i'd hoped. still, there were a lot of funny asides and lines and i liked that the kids cared so much about learning and art.

Claudia Kincaid was going to run away and teach everyone a lesson in Claudia appreciation. But she didn't want to run away like most people did. She took time and planned it out. She was going to run away to....the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. And she was taking her brother Jamie along as he had money and was good managing it.

The story is told by Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as told to her by Claudia and Jamie. She is writing it in a letter to her attourney as a preface for some legal work he is to do for her. Along with the story she lets her irritations with him be known in remarks in parenthesis.

The children make it to the museum and spend a week there without being discovered. While there they learn quite a bit about different times in history. They also learn something about themselves. Oh, and there is a mystery that arises. It involves a small sculpture of an angel. The mystery is if it was really carved by Michelangelo or someone else. The museum picked it up at auction for a paltry sum so it seems hard to believe it to be real, but.... Solving this mystery becomes a focal point for Claudia as she thinks it would make her different and more important that she feels she is.

It is interesting how some of the characters turn out to be related and what the children do learn about history and themselves.

Being written in 1967, it is before all the high tech security that now exists and does give just a tad of credence to it maybe being possible to happen. The ingenuity of the children to provide a place to sleep at night, provide food to eat and even bathe and do laundry is fun to read.

This is an edition published in honour of the 35th anniversary of the first publication of the book and includes and afterward by the author in place of a foreword. It gives and update on the characters and New York City.

it was a cute story

It has been a long time since I've had this much fun with a book. There is just something about these two characters, Jamie and Claudia, that makes the reader love them and love their adventure. I wish I had read this one as a child - I think it would have been one of those magical, transporting reads. I listened to this one, and the reader was just right for the story.

If you've never read this book, or you haven't read it since you were 10 or 11... well, it REALLY holds up.

Set in 1967 New York, it builds around its youthful characters an atmosphere that almost feels like an alternate universe. Delightful book. The writing is so nimble that I'm sure I didn't fully appreciate it when I read it as a child. Definitely a nice payoff to reading it as an adult.

Wonderful to have finally read this entire book after reading an excerpt from it grade school. Good depiction of the ups and downs of friendship.

A captivating story of four children who form a special bond and how it affects those around them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and will look for other books by this author.½

Many aspects of this Newbery are excellent. A few are not.

I was enjoying the stories and the method of story-telling until toward the end. When Mr. Singh appears and gets quite metaphysical about things, it felt like Konigsburg was having troubles wrapping up the stories and needed some help.

Loved the way the stories were told and interlaced.

My daughter loved this book when she read it years ago and she always wanted me to read it too. Along comes a prompt so it's a twofer! I can see how enamored a child would be with this book. What a fun concept to live in a museum on your own as a kid! To find a mystery connected to a statue and not be bossed around by parents. Of course, as a parent, this was horrifying! lol! Also, the practical side of my brain was getting too distracted by all the little details that would make what they did, and how they did it, completely impossible. And showering in a fountain? Yuck! So, yes, I'm officially old - I'm quite sure my daughter would still jump in any fountain she saw if I didn't stop her. All in all, it was a cute book and I can see why it's a children's favorite.