海角大神

Children鈥檚 author E.L. Konigsburg, a two-time Newbury Medalist for her books 鈥淔rom The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler鈥� and 鈥淭he View from Saturday,鈥� died on April 19 at the age of 83, according to her family.

Konigsburg was perhaps best known for the 1967 book 鈥淔rom The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,鈥� which followed a brother and sister, Claudia and Jamie, who ran away from home and hid inside New York鈥檚 Metropolitan Museum of Art.聽

Konigsburg, whose full name was Elaine Lobl, grew up in Pennsylvania and attended Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in chemistry. Konigsburg began writing and illustrating books after her youngest child had entered school and published her first book, 鈥淛ennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth,鈥� in 1967. 鈥淔rom The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler鈥� came out later the same year.

The author鈥檚 other works included 鈥淯p from Jericho Tell鈥� and 鈥淭he View from Saturday,鈥� which was released in 1996 and followed a group of middle-schoolers who enter an academic competition. 鈥淔rom The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler鈥� won the Newbery Medal in 1968 and 鈥淛ennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth,鈥� secured a Newbery Honor that same year, making her the only author to win both a Medal and an Honor in the same year. Konigsburg later won the Medal again in 1997 for 鈥淭he View from Saturday,鈥� making her one of only five authors to have been given the prize twice.

鈥淔rom The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler鈥� was adapted once as a 1973 film called 鈥淭he Hideaways,鈥� in which actress Ingrid Bergman starred as the title character, and again in 1995 as a TV movie in which Lauren Bacall took on the part.

Konigsburg wrote that she was inspired to create the story of 鈥淔rom The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler鈥� after she and her family went on a picnic and her children complained of the discomfort involved.

鈥淲hat, I wondered, would my children do if they ever decided to leave home?鈥� the author said. 鈥淲here, I wondered, would they go? At the very least, they would want all the comforts of home, and they would probably want a few dashes of elegance as well. They would certainly never consider any place less elegant than the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

In Konigsburg鈥檚 novel, protagonist Claudia 鈥渒new that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away,鈥� the author writes. 鈥淪he didn't like discomfort; even picnics were untidy and inconvenient: all those insects and the sun melting the icing on the cupcakes.鈥�

The author鈥檚 last book, 鈥淭he Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World,鈥� was released in 2007.

鈥淚 think most of us are outsiders,鈥� Konigsburg told the Dallas Morning News of her characters. 鈥滱nd I think that鈥檚 good because it makes you question things. I聽think it makes you see things outside yourself.鈥�