E.L. Konigsburg – författare

Who is George? Only Howard Carr and his older brother, Ben, can answer that question, because only they know about George. George is the funny little man who lives inside Ben, helping him (mostly) navigate life as a sixth grader who happens to be a scientific genius and who happens to be studying organic chemistry with students much older than he. One of those students is William Hazlitt, a senior who has been Ben's lab partner in previous years. William's interest in chemistry has taken a troubling turn, and Ben has a plan to come to his rescue. And that's when things get complicated -- for Howard, for Ben, and for George.

"ninety percent of who you are is invisible." Amedeo Kaplan seems just like any other new kid who has moved into the town of St. Malo, Florida, a navy town where new faces are the norm. But Amedeo has a secret, a dream: More than anything in the world, he wants to discover something -- a place, a process, even a fossil -- some treasure that no one realizes is there until he finds it. And he would also like to discover a true friend to share these things with. William Wilcox seems like an unlikely candidate for friendship: an aloof boy who is all edges and who owns silence the way other people own words. When Amedeo and William find themselves working together on a house sale for Amedeo''s eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Zender, Amedeo has an inkling that both his wishes may come true. For Mrs. Zender''s mansion is crammed with memorabilia of her long life, and there is a story to go with every piece. Soon the boys find themselves caught up in one particular story -- a story that links a sketch, a young boy''s life, an old man''s reminiscence, and a painful secret dating back to the outrages of Nazi Germany. It''s a story that will take them to the edge of what they know about heroism and the mystery of the human heart. Two-time Newbery winner E. L. Konigsburg spins a magnificent tale of art, discovery, friendship, history, and truth.

HOW HAD MRS. OLINSKI CHOSEN her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team? It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski''s team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen? It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan''s grandmother and Nadia''s grandfather. It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let a lot of baby turtles die. It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone. And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued. Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching after having been injured in an automobile accident, found that her Academic Bowl team became her answer to finding confidence and success. What she did not know, at least at first, was that her team knew more than she did the answer to why they had been chosen. This is a tale about a team, a class, a school, a series of contests and, set in the midst of this, four jewel-like short stories -- one for each of the team members -- that ask questions and demonstrate surprising answers.

Eleanor of Acquitaine has been waiting in Heaven for a long time to be reunited with her second husband, Henry II of England. Finally, the day has come when Henry will be judged for admission--and while Eleanor waits, three people close to her during various times of her life join her, helping to distract her and providing a rich portrait of a remarkable woman in history.

In TalkTalk E. L. Konigsburg presents a selection of speeches she has given over a period of 25 years. In her introduction to the first speech, and to the book as a whole, she explains:"While each of my books has been written because I had a story I wanted to tell, these speeches were written because I had something I wanted to say. The audience for the former is children; for the latter, adults.... I recognize -- with a measure of amused detachment -- that some were written as a reaction to trends; others, to fads.I have given these talks in cafetoriums, auditoriums, and the public rooms of Holiday Inns. Even though I have not always been on a stage when addressing an audience, I have tried to set the stage. Between talk and talk, I have written passages connecting the speeches to the time in which they were written and to one another. And that is TalkTalk."Always a thought-provoking speaker, she has chosen nine speeches that capture the essence of her years as a writer for children. When brought together, they enrich one another and provide a chance to look back at what children''s books have been, to observe where they are now and to offer an insightful look at what books may continue to mean to children in the years to come. Written by an outstanding author, these speeches, individually and together, represent a vision of the need for books and the role books have played and should continue to play in the lives of children.

Going to Peco, Florida, for the summer to stay with Bernadette is not Chloe''s first choice. Or her second or her third. It''s her only choice. She has to leave town because of the hair contract. If she didn''t sign it, her friends would shun her; if she did sign it, anytime any one of them had a bad hair day it would mean total immersion in the local pool for all of them, Chloe included. Chloe not only hates total immersion, she fears it.So it''s off to Bernadette''s for the summer. "Help Bernadette," Nick, Chloe''s stepfather, says. Bernadette is his sister. "And give the unexpected a chance." Just what that means Chloe discovers right away. Everything about Bernadette is unexpected: her dog; her job driving a commissary van that serves sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, and junk food to shipyard and dock workers; her way of teaching Chloe to swim; her ability to skate on Rollerblades; her adventures in the commune where she and Nick had lived for a year; and especially the fact that the unexpected is never unexpected to her, not even the events that follow when some commissary drivers begin wearing T-back swimsuits to work (a way of increasing business) and other groups in Peco decide T-backs should be banned forever.Bernadette, who will not wear T-backs but will not oppose them either, is caught in the middle. And no matter what Chloe does, the results are unexpected. Unexpected, it seems, is all you can really count on, unless, like Bernadette, you know enough about the past to have an idea of what the future might bring. And even then, well, maybe Bernadette doesn''t always know everything.

Now available in a deluxe keepsake edition!A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with E. L. Konigsburg’s beloved classic and Newbery Medal­–winning novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie bad some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she bad discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her—well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.

Who is George? Only Howard Carr and his older brother, Ben, can answer that question, because only they know about George. George is the funny little man who lives inside Ben, helping him (mostly) navigate life as a sixth grader who happens to be a scientific genius and who happens to be studying organic chemistry with students much older than he. One of those students is William Hazlitt, a senior who has been Ben''s lab partner in previous years. William''s interest in chemistry has taken a troubling turn, and Ben has a plan to come to his rescue. And that''s when things get complicated -- for Howard, for Ben, and for George.

Mark Setzer thought studying for his Bar Mitzvah and having his best friend move away created enough aggravation in his life. But then his mother becomes the new manager of his Little League team and drags his older brother, Spencer, along as coach. Miraculously, the team thrives, but in the process Mark learns some unpleasant truths about someone he thought he knew.

Four funny and perceptive short stories in which young people cope with difficult situations and in doing so learn something that changes their lives.

Poor Little Rich Boy Winston Carmichael has it all: a big house, servants, vacations in Palm Beach, and a fancy private school. But with overprotective parents and a sense of responsibility for his younger sister, Heidi, Winston sometimes feels more as if he''s living in a prison than a dream. Then one day a woman appears at the front door claiming to be Caroline -- Winston''s half sister, who was kidnapped and presumed dead long before he and Heidi were born. Is she really Caroline? Is she an imposter? Or is she something far more complicated than either? And does she hold the key that could unlock the door to Winston''s prison?

2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved classic Jennifer, Hecatate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is an only child, new in town, and the shortest kid in her class. She’s also pretty lonely, until she meets Jennifer. Jennifer is...well, different. She’s read Macbeth. She never wears jeans or shorts. She never says “please” or “thank you.” And she says she is a witch. It’s not always easy being friends with a witch, but it’s never boring. At first an apprentice and then a journeyman witch, Elizabeth learns to eat raw eggs and how to cast small spells. And she and Jennifer collaborate on cooking up an ointment that will enable them to fly. That’s when a marvelous toad, Hilary Ezra, enters their lives. And that’s when trouble starts to brew.

Andy''s not your average resident of exclusive Foxmeadow -- whenever he sits down to draw something, it turns out to be a dragon. And he wants to be a detective when he grows up -- not just an ordinary, everyday police detective, but a tough, cool, famous detective like the ones he reads about in mystery novels. Everyone knows a famous detective needs a sidekick, but Mrs. Edie Yakots, a lonely new bride who''s just moved into Foxmeadow, isn''t exactly what Andy had in mind -- he sometimes has a hard time just figuring out what''s she''s talking about. But she''s the only volunteer for the job, and before he knows it, she''s led him right into the middle of his first real crime -- in an inner-city neighborhood a short drive, and light years away, from Foxmeadow.

E.L. Konigsburg revisits the town of Epiphany to tell the story of Margaret Rose Kane, Connor''s older half-sister. It''s about the summer when Margaret Rose turned twelve--the same year that Cabbage Patch dolls were popular, that Sally Ride became the first woman to go into space, that El Nino turned the world upside-down. Margaret Rose begins her summer with a miserable experience at camp, from which she''s rescued by her beloved, eccentric uncles. Little does she know that her uncles, in turn, need rescuing themselves--from a tyrannical city council determined to tear down her uncles'' life work--three spectacularly beautiful towers that her uncles have been building since before Margaret was a baby. A rousing book about intelligence, art, and the fierce preservation of individuality, from EL Konigsburg.

Why did Leonardo da Vinci lavish three years on painting the second wife of an unimportant merchant when all the nobles of Europe were begging for a portrait by his hand? In E. L. Konigsburg''s intriguing novel, the answer lies with the complex relationship between the genius, his morally questionable young apprentice, and a young duchess whose plain features belie the sensitivity of her soul.

Connor is sure his best friend, Branwell, couldn''t have hurt Branwell''s baby half sister, Nikki. But Nikki lies in a coma, and Branwell is in a juvenile behavioral center, suspected of a horrible crime and unable to utter the words to tell what really happened. Connor is the only one who might be able to break through Branwell''s wall of silence. But how can he prove Branwell didn''t commit the unspeakable act of which he''s accused — when Branwell can''t speak for himself?

"Five short stories are told in the first person, all crisp and compactly tailored in setting forth their common theme of self-awareness".--Booklist (starred review)

Jeanmarie and Malcolm meet Tallulah, the ghost of a once-famous actress, who sends them on a quest to find the Regina Stone--the diamond she wore until it was stolen when she died. But they soon find more than they bargained for.