In the beginning of this new semester, I'm taking it easy on myself by using E.L. Konigsberg's From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967) in two different classes, my fourth-year university seminar and my first year graduate school seminar.
I love the book! It has a great concept: 12-year-old Claudia and her 8-year-old brother Jamie run away to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they hide out by tagging along with school tour groups during open ours and sleep in a 16th century bed (that was the site of a murder) and bathe in a restaurant fountain after hours. The dialogue between the siblings is spicy and funny, the mystery they try to solve (did Michelangelo sculpt this statue of an angel?) is intriguing, and the Met is just a wonderful place for the kids (and the reader) to spend time. The relationship between Claudia and Jamie is perfect: they bicker a lot (Claudia has a bad habit of correcting Jamie's English), but take turns encouraging or inspiring each other, and generally complement each other nicely: "She was cautious (about everything but money); he was adventurous (about everything but money)." ANYWAY. I wanted to say that I'm dissatisfied with how the book is going in classes so far. I've had one university seminar class and two graduate school classes discussing the book so far, and I find myself taking over too much and explaining too much and reading too much because I find myself getting impatient at the students for not saying enough soon enough and interestingly and interestedly enough. Maybe I like the book too much and want the students to like it too much and so when they don't bring up really funny or neat touches in the book, I get disappointed? I'll have to find a way to get the students to talk about the book in such a way that (I hope) their enthusiasm for it comes out without my taking over the class so much. . .
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Jefferson Peters (JP)
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December 2023
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