From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweller60second Book Review

Sometimes, when theres too much homework,
or your parents are making you crazy or youre just fed up with life, you kind of want to
get away, you know? Welcome to Claudia Kincaids life. The story of her run-away adventure
is this weeks Pick. Claudia Kincaid is a protagonist after my
own heart. If she was going to run away, it was not going to be some tent-in-the-woods
kind of deal.

Claudia was going to run away in styleto the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
in fact. Well, Claudia does get style at the museumlike
a 16th-Century bed fit for an Earls wifebut she gets something more: Mystery. And its
the mystery of a statue, allegedly sculpted by Michelangelo, that ends up propelling Claudia,
and her story, forward. Can an 11-year-old solve a centuries-old mystery?
I wont give anything away, but I will say that Claudia finds some unlikely allies in
her search, including the titular Mrs.

Basil E. Frankweiler. If this sounds like a book for kids, youd
be right. Its also one of the most imaginative, rollicking stories about finding your place
in the world that Ive ever read.

In the end, its because Claudia does discover
herselfor at least something about herselfthat shes able to return home. And its this
odyssey of self-discovery that makes this book a classic for kidsand adultsof
all ages..