"From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." Oh, what a fun book! I remember reading it as a kid - elementary aged siblings run away from home, but do so with a plan for comfort and safety, sneaking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. A few days into their adventure, they happen onto an art mystery - a beautiful angel sculpture by an unknown artist. They learn that experts suspect that Michelangelo created it and they begin to investigate, eventually happening on the truth through persistence and persuasion.
To celebrate the book, we visited a local art museum and did a scavenger hunt for items from the book, as well as other museum-related activities. (One was finding places to hide and/or spend the night, as shown in the photo above!) As always, it was a rich experience of literary enjoyment, fun with friends, and ongoing learning.
3 comments:
I love this idea! And I'm getting that book -- I hadn't remembered how much I loved it until I saw you mention it here...
If you do, "google" the book title for lots of other teaching ideas. I was looking for an image for our scavenger hunt and happened upon so many resources and ideas (free, of course!) Maybe because it won awards? It was funny, too, to see how the newer resources focus on "make sure kids know not to actually run away" whereas the older (1970s) resources seems to assume kids know the difference between reality and fantasy. Our exploration of the De Young certainly didn't make an overnight adventure there sound comfortable! I think Sweetpea will love it - I did as a kid and we all did again last month.
So cool! That was one of my favorites as a child.
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