Part 5
Sunday changes the museum’s rhythm. Claudia and Jamie make a small place of worship in the medieval galleries, say a prayer, and include an apology for taking a newspaper. Before the public arrives, they return to the Angel. A guard forces them behind a booth, and their escape brings them near the fabric that had supported the statue before its move. The velvet carries a raised imprint: linked circles with a letter that first looks like a W and then like an M. Jamie remembers the same emblem from a library book. Once the museum opens, the bookstore copy lets them verify that the design is associated with Michelangelo’s stonemason’s mark. During brunch, discovery becomes a plan. They want to alert the museum without revealing their hiding place, propose a return address that does not expose where they sleep, and debate going home. Claudia insists that the adventure should change more than her location. At a Fifth Avenue typewriter display, she composes an anonymous message directing museum staff toward the statue’s base. Chapter 6 closes with the message prepared and the next move still undecided.
| Section | What you will practice |
|---|---|
| Vocabulary | Words of evidence and communication: medieval, imprint, stonemason, verify, anonymous, typewriter… |
| Literary Elements | Internal and external stakes, symbolism, misdirection, and characterization |
| Cross-Curricular | Impressions, maker’s marks, attribution evidence, and verifiable anonymous claims |
| Ch. | What happens |
|---|---|
| 6a | A Museum Sunday — prayer in the medieval rooms leads to another close encounter with a guard. |
| 6b | The Velvet Impression — the moved statue has left linked circles and a puzzling letter in the fabric. |
| 6c | Bookstore Verification — a book cover connects the emblem to Michelangelo’s stonemason’s mark. |
| 6d | A Message Prepared — the children plan a protected reply route and type an unsigned letter to the museum. |
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
- During brunch, they plan how to share the clue and debate when to go home.
- After hiding from a guard, they notice linked circles pressed into the velvet.
- Claudia types an unsigned message directing the museum toward the statue’s base.
- A bookstore copy confirms that the emblem is associated with Michelangelo.
- The children observe Sunday with a prayer in the medieval galleries.
Since the 1800s post offices have rented secure numbered compartments called post-office boxes. Mail bearing the assigned box number is sorted from the postal side, while the renter opens the locked front with a key or combination. The service separates a person’s letters and parcels from the street where that person lives. Travelers, businesses, and people who value privacy have long used boxes for convenience. Yet address privacy is not invisibility: postal employees know the renter, and official records can connect the number to that customer. Current United States services verify a renter’s identity and physical address; earlier periods, other systems, and fiction may show different procedures.
In communication terms the path is sender to box to renter, providing a reply destination without publishing a residence. Mystery stories value that design because an anonymous writer, one who signs no name, can offer a mailing address while withholding a home address from ordinary readers. This solves a practical problem: a hidden sender who wants an answer must give the reply somewhere to go. The number limits public disclosure, but it does not guarantee secrecy from the postal service or lawful authorities. In these chapters the children only prepare a museum letter and propose a separate reply route; they do not yet rent the box or deliver the message.
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 5 “The Letter I Would Not Sign”
Imagine you know something important — something helpful, not hurtful — but you can only say it in an unsigned letter. Write about it: what you know, who needs to know it, and how you would make them believe a letter with no name. Write at least 40 words.
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 5 Complete!
You finished Chapter 6 of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.
Here are your auto-graded results:
The best last step is to teach it. In your own words, explain what happened — retell a favorite scene, teach a character’s big choice, or sum up the main idea for a parent, friend, or classmate. When you can teach it clearly, you truly own it.
Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by E.L. Konigsburg. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows E.L. Konigsburg’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.