Monday, February 23, 2015

The Best Book About New York Isn’t Even Really About New York



By Brianne Sperber    |   Friday, February 20, 2015 - Off the Shelf
Editor's Note: Today’s contributor, Brianne Sperber, was a member of Off the Shelf’s editorial board. She is now Marketing Manager at New York’s Strand Book Store.

Even working with books, not every author’s death hits you as hard as another’s. After hearing the news of E. L. Konigsburg’s passing, I felt I needed to revisit her classic From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It’s a book that has stayed with me for years, a book I’ve given to every young reader in my life, and a book every New Yorker should read.

Claudia Kincaid is a knockout—and completely one of a kind. Her desire to teach her parents a lesson in “Claudia appreciation” is one most children—and honestly, even most adults—can understand. When she decides to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, all the reader can think about are the practical realities of her situation: Where will she bathe? What will she eat? Where will she sleep? Claudia has all those details under control, and her meticulous plan allows her and her brother, Jamie, to spend a few happy weeks inside the museum. They wash in the fountains, sleep in medieval beds, and cleverly hide from the museum guards. Everything ch... READ FULL POST


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