From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E. L. Konigsburg
Q: Who is Saxenberg? Did she ever tell? Oh, yeah--I finished it kind of late and didn't catch that she told later in the book. Anyway, I'm not telling. You'll just have to read the book for yourself.
This is the kind of book we should make kids read in school, so they can find out reading doesn't have to be punishment. It's fun! And it expresses a feeling that every kid goes through sooner or later (I've still not lost it)--a feeling of wanting to make something happen. To do something different--even great--something that makes you uniquely you.
At least that was my take on it. Others may explain that I missed the point. I never was good at ferreting out deep, hidden meanings in literature. I just like the stories.
Oh--I just reread Lizzie Skurnick's interpretation of the book and I see both why she included it and what it meant to her. And I think she's right...it was an end of childhood experience. A first step in growing up. Having more important concerns that the frivolous plays of childhood. "...she's become, like the Angel, a singular entity with her own history, her own mystery." --Lizzie Skurnick, Shelf Discovery, 2009.
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