Little Happier: How a Loose Piece of Popcorn in a Museum Inspired a Masterpiece

Happier with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin / The Onward Project

Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.7 • 13K Ratings

🗓️ 22 February 2021

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The brilliant children’s book From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was inspired when writer E. L. Konigsburg spotted a piece of popcorn on a chair in a period room at the Metropolitan Museum. You never know what moment can lead to a masterpiece. Get in touch: @gretchenrubin; [email protected] Get in touch on Instagram: @GretchenRubin Get the podcast show notes by email every week here: http://gretchenrubin.com/#newsletter Order a copy of Gretchen’s new book OUTER ORDER, INNER CALM here: http://outerorderinnercalmbook.com Leave a voicemail message on: 774-277-9336 For information about advertisers and promo codes, go to happiercast.com/sponsors. Happier with Gretchen Rubin is part of ‘The Onward Project,’ a family of podcasts brought together by Gretchen Rubin—all about how to make your life better. Check out the other Onward Project podcasts—Do The Thing, Side Hustle School, Happier in Hollywood and Everything Happens with Kate Bowler. If you liked this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and tell your friends! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.
0:02.8	I am a huge fan of children's literature and young adult literature.
0:08.2	So of course, I have read E.L. Connicksburg masterpiece from the mixed up files of Mrs. Basile
0:14.7	Frankweller countless times.
0:17.4	Words cannot describe how much I love this book, which won the Newbury Medal.
0:22.7	It's about a sister and brother, Claudia and Jamie, who run away from their suburban existence
0:28.2	to hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
0:32.3	These days as part of the research for my new book about the five senses, I'm visiting
0:36.3	them at every day.
0:37.9	And I'm sure my love for this book, stretching back to my childhood, is one reason that I
0:42.8	was drawn to that exercise.
0:45.7	But despite my long love for the novel, only recently did I learn how E.L. Connicksburg
0:50.9	got the idea for her book.
0:53.7	When E.L. Connicksburg died, her family, friends and colleagues gathered at the Metropolitan
0:58.1	Museum for a private event to celebrate her life.
1:01.8	And it counted the event described how her son Paul told the story of how his mother
1:06.3	had first had the idea for, from the mixed up files of Mrs. Basile Frankweller.
1:11.9	Welcoming his mother's family and publishing family to the event, Paul Connicksburg spoke
1:16.7	about his mother's long varied connection with the museum, which began years before fictional
1:21.9	siblings Claudia and Jamie Concade ran away to live there.
1:26.5	During the mid-1960s, Connicksburg's mother would drop off Paul and his siblings, Laurie
1:31.6	and Ross at the museum, while she attended her own art classes.
	...

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