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shakespearesgirl 's review for:
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg
This is another book that I haven't read since elementary school, although the precise year I would have read it escapes me at the moment. I also remember listening to it on tape in the car, so possibly it was as late as 6th or 7th grade, but my memory of the book was faded enough that even though I remembered loving it, I didn't remember much more than the basic plot of Claudia and Jamie running away to the Metropolitan Museum.
Part of why this book works so well, I think, is because there are all kinds of secrets and mysteries set out at the beginning that we find out the answer to at the very end. I thought the multiple references to Saxonberg's grandchildren were very clever, actually, and some of the hints dropped were just oblique enough that when I connected the dots it made me laugh.
I also think that the fact that this book is narrated by an old woman who loves mysteries and secrets and adventures is a big contributing factor to why it continues to hold up over the years. Although I'm not sure anyone knows what an automat is anymore unless they were born pre-1960 or read Mental Floss.
Part of why this book works so well, I think, is because there are all kinds of secrets and mysteries set out at the beginning that we find out the answer to at the very end. I thought the multiple references to Saxonberg's grandchildren were very clever, actually, and some of the hints dropped were just oblique enough that when I connected the dots it made me laugh.
I also think that the fact that this book is narrated by an old woman who loves mysteries and secrets and adventures is a big contributing factor to why it continues to hold up over the years. Although I'm not sure anyone knows what an automat is anymore unless they were born pre-1960 or read Mental Floss.