From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Summary | Plot Summary

Sixth-grader Claudia Kincaid wants to run away, but doesn't want to do it the regular way, where she's running from something; she wants to do it differently, to run to something. And, so, the adventure of Claudia and Jamie Kincaid begins.

Claudia is mad at her parents. In her view, they take her for granted, because as the oldest of four children and the only girl, she's constantly saddled with household chores and babysitting. Frankly, Claudia has had enough; a germ of an idea gives birth to an entire plan on how she will run away, the mode of transportation she'll use, and where she'll be staying on her adventure. She hatches a plan to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City from her home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The next decision is who to take along as an accomplice. Claudia decides that her nine-year-old brother, Jamie, is the best choice for two reasons; first, he keeps secrets really well and, second, he saves money like no one else. He has the money for both of them to run away in style; $24.43 that he gathered from his allowance and cheating at cards with his friend Bruce.

Claudia fills him in on the details of her runaway plan and, the next morning, they hide out on their school bus and make their getaway. Claudia appoints Jamie the treasurer of their adventure. They take a train from Greenwich, Connecticut into Grand Central Station in New York City and then walk to the Museum of Modern Art.

For the next week, Jamie and Claudia manage to hide out in the museum. They have a system worked out where, at the beginning and end of each museum day, they hide in bathroom stalls. During the day, they join school groups, get lunch in the snack bar, and even manage to do their laundry in the local laundromat. When Claudia insists that she and Jamie take a bath in the fountain outside the snack bar, coins discovered in the bottom of the fountain provide extra money for meals.

The exhibition of an angel statue purportedly sculpted by Michelangelo, forms the basis of a mystery for Jamie and Claudia to solve. Through careful research at a local library as well as books in the museum gift shop, Jamie and Claudia are convinced that Michelangelo is the sculptor.

Feeling victorious, they write a letter to the Museum office telling them of their discovery, Claudia, anxious to be the hero who solves the mystery. The Museum writes the back to them in care of a P.O. Box they have rented in Grand Central Station thanking them for their information and advising that they are not sure who the sculptor is but they have top experts working on it.

This letter is the thing that deflates Claudia. Jamie is ready to go home but Claudia still wants to find out, definitively, who sculpted the statue. In the New York Times, the children find out that the statue was sold to the Museum at auction by a Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for $225. So, Claudia decides that the next place to go is the home of Mrs. Frankweiler in Farmington, Connecticut.

Once at the home of Mrs. Frankweiler, the children are given another mystery to solve. Mrs. Frankweiler's office contains an entire wall full of filing cabinets and she puts Jamie and Claudia to the test telling them that she will give them a ride home in exchange for their finding the file on the angel statue. She tells the children that an answer to their mystery is in that file.

It takes almost an hour to find it but eventually Jamie and Claudia are successful in locating the file. What they find in the file - a handwritten note in Italian and a drawing - suggests that Michelangelo was the sculptor, but there still is no definitive proof. Mrs. Frankweiler tells the children that, in exchange for hearing their story about the adventure of running away from Greenwich to New York City, she will bequeath the note and drawing to them in her Will and they will be free to do whatever they'd like with it.

Jamie and Claudia spend the night with Mrs. Frankweiler, each taking a turn at a tape recorder, telling about their adventure. She tells the children that she will put their transcripts in one of the file cabinets which will then join all of her other mysteries. By this time, the children have spoken with their parents and the Kincaids are satisfied that the children are safe. Mrs. Frankweiler's attorney, Saxonberg (the one to whom Mrs. Frankweiler writes the letter which begins this story), is the children's grandfather and has told Mrs. Frankweiler of everyone's worry.

The next morning, Mrs. Frankweiler has her chauffeur, Sheldon, take the children home. On the ride home, Jamie and Claudia decide that they will adopt the childless Mrs. Frankweiler as their grandmother and promise to go see her as often as they can.