Just Like Me!

Every now and then you get an author who wins not one but two Newberry Medals.  E.L. Knigsburg is one of those authors.  If you haven't read From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler you are missing out big time!  Read is as soon as possible-it is FANTASTIC!

Perhaps one of the reasons I thought it was so great is because I am just like the main character Claudia Kincaid.  "Claudia loved the city because it was elegant; it was important and busy" the perfect place to run away to.  But you can't just run away to the park you should run away somewhere good...like the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Don't worry she planned it all out, "planning long and well was one of her special talents."  Just like me!

In the museum you can't just lounge around, "she set for for herself and her brother the task of learning everything about the museum-one thing at a time (Claudia probaby didn't realize that the museum has over 365,000 works of art.  Even if she had she could not have been convinced that learning everything about everything was not possible).  I'm getting a double masters...I still think you can learn everything about everything...or at least get close.

Claudia's struggle throughout the book was wanting to come back different, "I didn't run away to come back the same."  How many times do we do something big and still have the fear that it won't make any difference?  Does Claudia come back the same?  You'll just have to read the book. 

Planning, learning, and coming back different...that's kids stuff.