Frankweiler has purposefully 'given away' a virtually priceless Michelangelo to the Met. Despite the idiosyncratic organization of her files, they discover the angel's secret-Mrs. She recognizes them as runaways but sets them briefly to the task of researching the angel from files in her long bank of cabinets. The children research it on site and at the Donnell Library, and give their conclusion to the museum staff anonymously.Īfter learning that they have been naïve, the children spend the last of their money on travel to Mrs. Frankweiler, a collector who recently closed her showcase Manhattan residence. It was purchased at auction, for only a few hundred dollars, from Mrs.

With the help of an unused adult train fare card that she found in a wastebasket, Claudia finds a way to get to the museum for free using the commuter train and a very long walk.Įarly chapters depict Claudia and Jamie settling in at the Met: hiding in the restroom at closing time, as security staff check to see that all the patrons have departed blending in with school groups on tour bathing in the fountain using 'wishing coins' for money and sleeping in Irwin Untermyer's antique bed.Ī new exhibit draws sensational crowds and fascinates the children: the marble statue of an angel, the sculptor unknown but suspected to be Michelangelo. She chooses Jamie as her companion partly because he has saved all his money.

She takes refuge in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) in New York City, with her brother Jamie. Twelve-year-old Claudia Kincaid decides to run away from her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, because she thinks that her parents do not appreciate her. It serves as the cover letter for the 162-page narrative, and provides background for changes to her last will and testament. Frankweiler, addressed 'To my lawyer, Saxonberg', accompanied by a drawing of her writing at her office desk. įrom the Mixed-Up Files won the annual Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1968. It was published by Atheneum in 1967, the second book published from two manuscripts the new writer had submitted to editor Jean E. The book follows siblings Claudia and Jamie Kincaid as they run away from home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Frankweiler is a novel by E. L. Konigsburg. Print ( hardcover, paperback), Audio bookįrom the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs.

El konigsburg from the mixed up files