From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Themes

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler Themes

Collaboration/Teamwork

From the start of this adventure, to the last page, Claudia Kincaid needed her brother Jamie's help. While Claudia's intent may have started out as mercenary - Jamie is the best saver of money in the family - it quickly became a team effort. Jamie and Claudia had the usual sibling squabbles, Claudia, fond of correcting Jamie's grammar and Jamie likes to correct Claudia's misconceptions.

Claudia devised the run away plan but Jamie helped implement it. For example, when Claudia wanted to take taxis and buses in New York City, Jamie reined her in and saved their funds, and although Claudia was the one who expressed a desire to solve the mystery of who sculpted the angel statue in the Museum of Modern Art, it was Jamie who found a symbol on some velvet that led them to Michelangelo's stone mason's mark. Yet when Jamie wanted to root through every...
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