Review of 'From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E.Frankweiler' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
[guessing at the star rating / mining my old FB notes now that they are almost impossible to find]
read for the mother/daughter bookclub, this was a charming book that, deservedly, won the newbery the year i was born. i found the themes of growing up, looking for validation, and needing something that is one's own to be timeless. i was especially surprised to see books THAT old figured parentless children. i really thought this was a more modern construction which i've criticized, often. yet this plot was near harmless, and the absence of parental perspective made the whole endeavor innocent and sweet. i loved the book while my daughter hated it - she's unable to conceive of a time before today's security-obsessed reality. what was a faint memory for me, was a totally foreign concept to her.