Episode 15: A Day at the Met with the Mixed-Up Files

Beloved children’s book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler turns 50 this year. E.L. Konigsburg’s best-selling novel tells the story of two suburban children who run away to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. To celebrate the book’s anniversary—and to gear up for summer reading—Can We Talk? took two ten-year-old girls to the Met for an official tour retracing Claudia and Jamie Kincaid’s week in the museum. Tune in to join us on the tour and to hear an interview with Konigsburg’s daughter and a conversation with the girls about why the proper yet rebellious Claudia Kincaid still resonates with today’s young readers.

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Released June 14, 2017

Ten-year-old friends Maayan and Shalvah stand on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a copy of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which takes place at the museum.
A French bed from the 1700s at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The tomb of Perneb at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Ten-year-olds Maayan and Shalvah explore an Egyptian room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with Can We Talk? host Nahanni Rous.
Ten-year-olds Shalvah and Maayan with Can We Talk host Nahanni Rous observing a cupid statue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Alice Schwarz, left, an educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, leads a From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler-themed tour of the museum.