Book Group-- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

 Book group time has rolled around again.....and yeah!! we finished the book on time this month!  (the day before, but finished on time none the less!)  We enjoyed this book and loved how it intertwined beautifully with our history studies of the Renaissance period.

From the back of the book-- Claudia know she had to run away; the question was where should she run to?  The answer, she decided, was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, she could live in the comfort and elegance she needed. so she and her brother Jamie (Jamie because he had money, and money was essential) went off on a carefully organized runaway.  The results were all they had hoped for and more, much more.  The 'more' was when, after settling in to live in the museum, they discover a new exhibit which has fascinated, not only the public, but Claudia as well, of a marble statue claimed to be carved my Michelangelo.  Something about the beauty of the statue captivates Claudia and she must find out who the real author of this enchanting statue is. Through interesting twists and turns, they come to the home of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler, who owned the statue before the museum purchased it at auction.  They hope to find that Michelangelo, truely did sculpt Angel...and they did, after digging through her vast collection of information stored in numerous filing cabinet.


Our literary topic this month was on Theme.  Now this can be a difficult concept to extract for kids at a younger age, but I think they did fairly well at figuring out what the main theme was.

The theme our clever scholars came up with is this...Claudia wanted to find some sort of meaning to her life, something special just to her.  E.L. Konigsburg summarized this as-- Often my characters are striving to find the answers to big questions that will help shape their identities. She says "My characters are softly comfortable on the outside and solidly uncomfortable on the inside."   I think many people, adults too, constantly struggle with this.
Barry and I talked with the kids about how a solid testimony of who they are, a Son or Daughter of God, can be this 'secret" that special something that you alone know that helps us feel important, complete and fulfilled.  It's a secret that needs to be shared with all, but can only beobtained and developed by ourselves, in a personal way.

 While in the home of Mrs. B. E. Frankweiler, who was extremely rich, they dined on a lunch of soup, salad, and nouilles et fromage en casserole    'Under the fancy trappings, I'm just a  plain lady" says Mrs. Frankweiler as the kids exclaim  "What, it's just macaroni and cheese."


Most kids, our kids too, loved the nouilles it fromage en casserole...see all the happy faces below.

and now it's gone!!

Next month's book--A Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli