June 2015 Book of the Month This is everything a classic children’s book should be: it’s exciting, funny, has terrific central characters, a mystery to solve, and a truth – particular to childhood – to be revealed. Claudia Kincaid is fed up - as the oldest child, and a girl - with life’s injustices. So she runs away to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, taking her second youngest brother, Jamie, because he’s the best with money. It’s a marvellous adventure – they mingle with tourists, sleep in a medieval bed after everyone’s left, bath in the café fountain and scoop up change from its floor to boost their coffers! When a new exhibit is unveiled Claudia turns detective, determined to prove it the work of Michelangelo. Success will send her home a heroine, and that’s really important. The children’s search leads them to the statue’s original owner, the eponymous Mrs Frankweiler, someone who understands Claudia exactly and can give her what she needs. ~ Andrea Reece
Piece of Passion from Adam Freudenheim, Publisher, Pushkin Children's Books 'From the Mixed-up Files… was one of my childhood favourites, and my own children love it too. It's a simply magical, perfect book for any child with an imagination of about 7-10 who's ever visited a museum (or dreamed of running away, even for a moment). I'm delighted to (re)introduce it to British readers – nearly 50 years on its appeal is a strong as ever.'