I’ve slowly been sharing all the old posts I’ve written over at SleuthSayers during the time I fell off the edge of the world and disappeared. With today’s post, I’ll be finally caught up. In a sense, I’ve saved the best for last. Back in fall, I wrote about one of my favorite childhood books, and how I finally figured out why it moved me as much as it did way back when.
Before I go much further, I should add that this post has the usual affiliate links, which means if you click through and buy anything, I’ll receive a small commission at no cost to yourself.
The book I’m talking about is called From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg. And if you haven’t read it, how can you call yourself a grown-up child?
I don’t remember how I came to read the book. I don’t think it was a class assignment, but it might have been a book I found in a classroom library and then later persuaded my parents to buy for me. The investment was well spent, I’d say. I still have the very same paperback all these years later, though I’ve never seen the Ingrid Bergman movie, The Hideaways, that is the cover tie-in of this particular edition.
Two kids run away from home and hide out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. They become embroiled in the mystery of a mysterious statue of an angel that the museum has recently acquired. This leads them to the statue’s former owner, one Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Now, as an adult and a writer, I can look at the book and understand why it felt special all those years ago. As I said in the post at SleuthSayers, it all comes down to two things: the book’s unusual narrative structure and its central theme about why humans crave secrets and feeling special.
The second reason the book charmed me is that it’s remarkably wise. The author understands that all children—young and old—want to feel special, and solving a mystery is one of the best ways to arrive at that specialness. This may partially account for the mystery lover’s addiction.
You can find out more in my post, which is entitled:
The Secret Inside You!
I’ve written about this topic before, back when E.L. Konigsburg died and the news was filled with memorials to her work. The essay I wrote for SleuthSayers incorporated some of that earlier material, but I think it is a deeper, richer, fuller, better appreciation of the book, and why it still moves me today. The original post is tucked away somewhere on this blog, though I wasn’t able to find it easily. Maybe, like Mrs. Frankweiler, I’ve unwittingly generated my own mixed-up files.