Lovely Little Shelf

From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg

Unlike a lot of kids, I don’t remember ever going through the “run-away” deal when I was younger.  I don’t remember ever packing all my little clothes and going to hit the road, but if I ever did, it would have been just like these kids.

Stowing away on the back of the bus with their giant instrument cases? Immeasurably cool.  That is a piece of imagery that has stuck with me my whole life.  Through years of band in high school, the tuba and baritone cases made me think of this book every single time. Same with them stealing the bus or train tickets (is that what it was?) out of their mom’s trashcan.  For some reason, I remember that the tickets were wrapped in toilet paper that their mom had used to blot her lipstick.  To this day, every time I blot my lips, I think of this book.  I know, weird, right?

Just the idea of sneaking away to live in a museum just captured my imagination like very few books did.  There is a mystery, I remember, involving a statue by Michelangelo, but to be honest the storyline in this book hasn’t stuck with me entirely.  For me, what has real staying power is the general idea.  I remember reading this book over and over while living in my small, southern Ohio town, and just feeling like there are so many giant things out there that I’m still unaware of.   I had never heard of the MET, I was totally ignorant about NYC, this is the first time I remember being exposed to Michelangelo…. just a number of eye-opening moments happened for me during this book.

That, combined with those several moments of great visual imagery, make this a book that I come back to in my mind over and over again.

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