Character Design Process

FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS/BASIL E.FRANKWEILER

ELEVATOR PITCH LINE

A twelve-year-old girl Claudia feels unappreciated at home, plans to run way with her brother Jamie, and recruits him. They run to Metropolitan Museum of Art and there discover a mystery of the art world, which fascinates her and overwhelms the adventure.

SUMMARY

Twelve-year-old Claudia Kinkaid decides to run away from home with the help of her little brother, Jamie. With Jamie's $27 dollars and Claudia's smarts, they end up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

They reach the Met and fall into quite the routine: they wander around and join tour groups during the day, hide in weird exhibits at night… Their adventure gets way more adventuresome though, when they discover the hubbub around a recent museum acquisition, a marble statue of an angel that may or may not be carved by Michelangelo. Obviously, a twelve-year-old and a nine-year-old are going to solve a big mystery in the art world that all these historians and museum officials are stumped by.

All their time spent in the library and sleuthing around the museum can only get them so far, so they track down the person who sold the mysterious statue to the museum in the first place—one Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. When they get to her big old house, they ask Mrs. Frankweiler about the angel statue and she agrees to let them know what's up on two conditions: (1) they must find the file on the angel statue in her filing room in under one hour, and (2) they must tell her all the details of how they ran away.

The kids are up to the challenge. They go through all those mixed-up files find out that it's true. The angel statue was made by the great Michelangelo! Mrs. Frankweiler says that she'll give them the files on the angel statue in her will, but that they can't tell anyone in the meantime before she dies. Claudia wouldn't want to let anyone else in on her secret anyway.

The kids can go home feeling like they've done something special, and after the kids have left, both they and Mrs. Frankweiler contemplate whether or not they'll visit each other in the future.

INTERESTING SCENES TO ILLUSTRATE

·      The scene where Claudia sends his another illiterate young brother to Jamie’s room as a messenger to deliver a list of “secret runaway duo” instructions that she pinned to his pajamas. Jamie reads them carefully and memorizes them.

·      Claudia and Jamie trying to blend into the background of massive/crowded New York City like spies with their musical instrument cases stuffed all their supplies (after they get off their school bus in random stop)

·      Claudia and Jamie taking bath at the fountain in the museum’s restaurant and collecting “income” from the coins on the floor

·      Kids hiding from the guards at night in the bathroom standing on the toilet

·      Kids hiding from the guards at night pretending they’re one of the sculptures

·      Kids sleeping in an old, elegant bed from the sixteenth century among massive museum collection

·      Kids blending into walk-in tours during the day

·      Kids getting food from automat with the trumpet and violin cases with their laundry at night

·      The scene where Claudia cries because she finally feels “special” after she finds the prove in the office with many many filling files in Mrs. Frankweiler’s house

MAIN CHARACTERS

Claudia Kincaid:

12, oldest of four children and the only girl so she sets the table and empties the dishwasher. She is straight-A student, a critic of English grammar, and a good planner. She is all about making things happen, and it’s her actions that propel the story along. Emotional. Boss, controlling, the seeker of secrets, sensitive

Jamie Kincaid:

9, is the third child and the middle boy, in fourth grade, quiet and frugal. He cheats at the card game War, playing with his best friend for money on the school bus daily. Calming force, the joker (quick on his feet)

TIME SETTINGS

1960s America middle class generation, New York City