“Happiness is excitement that has found a settling place, but there is always a corner of it that keeps flapping around.”

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

It’s Year 2 of our book club’s Valentine Book Exchange (see here for Year 1) and our theme this year is “Take Me On A Date”. My date is the awesome Lindsey of @unopenedpages and she curated an Art/Museum Date for me. She knows me so well!! The book featured is From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg—where two young kids run away from home to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met is also one of the highlights of our trip to NY years ago and I won’t be lying if I say I also thought about doing the same thing when I was there 😆 ⁣

I really enjoyed the book because aside from being able to revisit The Met, it is such a refreshing take on coming of age stories. It is not as adventurous or as crazy as other popular novels from the genre but the experience and lessons from our two runaways have lingered with me long after I’ve closed the book. The quote below is one of my favorites, and this is something I tend to forget especially now that I’m an adult, so it’s great to be reminded from time to time.

“The adventure is over. Everything gets over, and nothing is ever enough. Except the part you carry with you. It’s the same as going on a vacation. Some people spend all their time on a vacation taking pictures so that when they get home they can show their friends evidence that they had a good time. They don’t pause to let the vacation enter inside of them and take that home.”

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Our bookish date also includes: a sweet letter, a lovely sketch/scrapbook for my art prints and stickers, Papemelroti magnetic bookmarks featuring iconic artists (Frida Kahlo, Van Gogh, etc) and home-baked goodies not included in photo because they’re already in my tummy. 😋 Thank you dear Lindsey! I love everything 💗 ⁣
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What’s your ideal date? ☕️

Overall Book Rating: 3.5/5

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About the Author

Elaine Lobl Konigsburg was an American author and illustrator of children’s books and young adult fiction. She was the only author to win the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in the same year (1968), with her second and first books respectively: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Kongisburg won a second Newbery Medal in 1997 for The View from Saturday, 29 years later, the longest span between any two Newberys awarded to one author.

Book Details

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

Paperback, 178 pages
Published June 2nd 2003 by Walker Books Ltd
First published 1967 ISBN 0744583276
ISBN13: 9780744583274
Edition language: English
Original title: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Characters: Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Claudia Kincaid, James Kincaid
Literary Awards: Newbery Medal, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award, William Allen White Children’s Book Award