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. ( )