Which E. L. Konigsburg novel won the 1968 Newbery Medal?

E. L. Konigsburg wrote From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, winner of the 1968 Newbery Medal. The novel follows siblings Claudia and Jamie Kincaid, who run away from home and secretly live in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Their adventure begins when Claudia wants more independence and chooses Jamie because he has saved money. At the museum they hide after closing, blend into school groups, and investigate a mysterious angel statue that may have been sculpted by Michelangelo. The mystery eventually leads them to the wealthy collector Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Konigsburg’s Newbery achievement was extraordinary: her other book, Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, was also a 1968 Newbery Honor book. The novel was published in 1967, so the 1968 medal refers to the award year, not the publication year. “From the Mixed-Up Files” is a common shortened form of the full title.