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

Konigsburg, E.L. From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1972 (c. 1967). Paperback $5.50, ISBN 0-689-71181-6.

What’s it about?

Twelve-year-old Claudia and her younger brother Jamie run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they encounter a beautiful statue of an angel that may or may not have been sculpted by Michelangelo. Jamie and Claudia are determined to solve the mystery of the angel’s creator, and uncover more than they bargained for.

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Twelve-year-old Claudia Kincaid feels unappreciated and tired of her ordinary existence, and sets out to run away and teach her family a little lesson. She is a creature of comfort, however, so the place she runs away to must be beautiful and comfortable. The Metropolitan Museum of Art fits the bill. She needs money to pull this off successfully, and invites her nine-year-old, penny-pinching brother Jamie along. The two have fun evading the guards, finding places to sleep undiscovered, and blending in with school groups. When a gorgeous statue of an angel appears at the museum, enveloped in mystery, the Claudia decides that her new mission is to find out if the sculpture is indeed the work of Michelangelo. Their detective work eventually leads them to the doorstep of the uber-wealthy elderly Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the woman who sold the statue to the museum for a measly $225 dollars. The two uncover the secrets of the statue by telling the secret-loving woman their own secrets of how they managed to evade discovery at the museum.

Although this book is a light-hearted mystery, it is also a work of art. Konigsburg’ has crafted believable characters who behave believably in a rather implausible situation. This makes this story all the funnier. Jamie has the best lines: when he is nearly discovered by a guard when he’s hiding in the men’s room, the startled guard asks “Where did you come from?” Jamie responds: “Mother always said I came from Heaven.” This book is extremely funny, but it has a deeper undertone that sets it apart from other amusing adventure stories. Claudia’s deep need to escape the prosaic is not a typical reason that a child runs away. Mrs.Frankweiler is not a typical art collector, either. She treasures the secrets and stories behind each piece more than the monetary value. There are also some poignant moments. Mrs. Frankweiler, in exchange for the children’s secrets about their adventure, bequeaths Michelangelo’s signed sketch of the angel. On their ride home, the two children decide that Mrs. Frankweiler (who confesses to the children that she’d always wanted to be a mother) will be their secret grandmother.

There is an amazing twist to Konigsberg’s classic mystery. In 1995, a professor noticed a statue of a cupid in the courtyard of the French Embassy’s cultural services building, which is on Fifth Avenue. She became convinced that this was actually a Michelangelo sculpture.  She investigated the statue and announced that it was indeed an early work by Michelangelo. Konigsberg’s fans were stunned, and wondered if she’d known about this statue all along. She didn’t, but this story adds a new and special twist to this timeless novel.    

Genre: Mystery, Adventure, Humor

Reading Level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-6

Read-alikes:

Balliet’s Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3

Raskin’s Westing Game

Subjects: Runaways, Museums, Sibling Relationships, Art of the Renaissance

Awards:

Newbery Medal (1968)

ALA Notable Book

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Beezus and Ramona

Cleary, Beverly. Beezus and Ramona. Illustrated by Louis Darling. Harperfestival, reissue 2010 (c. 1955).  Paperback $5.99 , ISBN 978-0061914614

What’s it about?

Nine-year-old Beatrice “Beezus” Quimby has a problem: an exasperating little sister, four-year-old troublemaker named Ramona, who does everything loudly and boisterously.  No other nine-year-old Beezus knows has a sister quite like Ramona.

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Ramona Quimby can be quite a pest, as her older sister Beezus can attest. Beezus (aka Beatrice) is a quiet, contemplative child.  Her younger sister’s antics often disrupt her life, from the time Ramona locks her friend’s dog in the bathroom to the time she sits in during Beezus’ art class.  It’s the last straw for Beezus, however, when Ramona ruins not one, but two birthday cakes on Beezus’ tenth birthday. The first time, Ramona decided to drop all the eggs in the house (shells and all) into the batter. The second time, Ramona is playing Hansel and Gretel with her doll Bendix. She sticks her doll in the oven, where it falls into the cake and scorches.  Beezus feels just awful, and it is not just because her cakes were spoiled. She feels that she is a horrible human being for sometimes not loving Ramona. When she blurts this out at her birthday dinner, instead of being shocked, her family understands. Her mother and her aunt can relate—and tell her all about the mischief they got into when they were kids. Beezus feels optimistic that one day she and Ramona will look back on Ramona’s obnoxious behavior and laugh.

Beezus and Ramona is hilarious. Cleary does a wonderful job of capturing a rowdy four-year-old’s behavior and making it more than sheer brattiness. Of course, there are moments when Ramona is just bratty, but what makes Ramona memorable is the way she thinks. She hides in the basement and eats just one bite out of dozens of apples. Why? Because the first bite is tastes the best! Even Beezus can’t refute this fact. When Ramona secretly invites her entire nursery school class over one day to have a party, she explains to her mother that when she asks, she doesn’t get to do things. When Ramona locks Henry’s dog Ribsy in the bathroom, she does so because she was giving him a time out (he ate her cookie).  Cleary also does an excellent job of painting a sympathetic portrait of Beezus and her feelings of being overshadowed and frustrated. The pen and ink illustrations by Louis Darling are excellent, and accent the humor and deftness of Cleary’s storytelling.

Genre: Realistic Fiction, Humor

Reading level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-5

Subjects: Sibling relationships, Pre-school-aged children

Read-alikes:

Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Blume, Judy. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Puffin, 2007 (c. 1972). Paperback $ 5.99, ISBN-13 978-0142408810 

What’s it about? Peter Hatcher is sick and tired of being a Fourth Grade Nothing, overshadowed by his adorable,  havoc-wreaking, toddler brother Fudge. 

Find out more: Peter Hatcher is fourth grader with a cute younger brother, who goes by the nickname Fudge. Peter likes Fudge the best when he is asleep and puts his fingers in his mouth and makes a content slurping noise. When Fudge is awake, however, he is trouble. Like many toddlers, Fudge is in constant motion, exploring his environment (with the side effects of destructiveness and racket).  Peter is frustrated by the way adults treat Fudge and how Fudge gets away with awful behavior.  He feels like a fourth grade nothing, with his accomplishments and needs overshadowed by his little brother.

The title of the book is slightly misleading—the tales are Fudge-centric, which highlights how Peter feels—like a backdrop in his own life. Toddlers are egoists, and everything centers around them, which is tiresome when you yourself are still a child.  Peter comes across as more mature than his age, and his accounts of Fudge’s behavior are hilariously deadpan. The reader will feel sympathy for Peter, especially when he bears the blame for and the brunt of the misbehavior. There are some funny moments when Fudge’s idolization of his older brother Pee-tah comes in handy for handling Fudge’s difficult behavior, such as the ruse when Peter pretended to be getting the same type of shoes as Fudge. Any kid with a younger sibling will identify with Peter, and kids who are the babies of the family will enjoy the humor of these anecdotes. The target audience of this book is kids who are in upper elementary school. Both boys and girls will enjoy Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, which is still in print nearly 40 years later.

 I recall reading this book when I was in third grade and had a sister Fudge’s age. My sister was no Fudge—she was much better behaved (although she did swallow rocks and loose change).  I do remember feeling secondary to her, however, and I think most older siblings feel like Peter does when there is a sizeable age difference, especially in smaller families.  I loved every moment of the book, except for the fate of poor Dribble. I thought the turtle eating was impossible, and a literary device, but according to Blume, the inspiration came from an article published in the late 60s about a toddler who swallowed a pet turtle.

Genre label: Humor, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Reading level: 3^rd grade

Interest level: Grades 3-6

Read-alikes:

Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona and Ramona the Pest

Subjects: Siblings, sibling relationships, family relationships, toddlers

Series information:

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great (Judy Blume thinks of this as the second “Fudge” book)

Superfudge

Fudge-a-Mania

Double Fudge

Character name/descriptions:

Peter Hatcher—narrator & older brother to the mischevious toddler Fudge. Proud owner of an ill-fated turtle named Dribble

Jimmy Fargo—Peter’s friend and neighbor

Fudge—Peter’s younger brother, who ruins everything!

Sheila Tubman—Peter’s know-it-all classmate