KONIGSBURG, E. L.

Born 10 February 1930, New York, New York

Daughter of Adolph and Beuhlah Lobl; married David Konigsburg, 1952; children: three

E. L. Konigsburg grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She received a B.S. from Carnegie Institute of Technology, and did graduate work in chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh. Before starting to write, she taught science at a private girls' school, married, and had three children. Konigsburg, feeling that there were few books geared to suburban children, started writing to fill this gap, and culled ideas from her own children's experiences and imagination.

Konigsburg writes for children between the ages of eight and 12, and believes that by the time children reach this stage in their development, they should be able to recognize their inner selves—or consciences—and be answerable to them. Konigsburg's books, however, are not of the sort that hold together thinly developed plots only to proclaim morality; her plots are intricate and her characters disarmingly real. She is principally concerned with telling a good story and says, "When you write for children, they do not have any self-consciousness about putting down a book that is boring."

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967, reprinted more than 50 times), a Newbery winner, is probably Konigsburg's best-known work. It is the story of two upper middle-class children who run away from their suburban Connecticut home to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They become involved in solving a mystery and return home, having grown in the sense that they have gained an inner secret to cherish and have taken an admirable first step toward adulthood.

Konigsburg considers Father's Arcane Daughter (1976), which deals with the problems of handicapped children, her best book. By comparison with many others of this genre, it is distinctive in that the reader does not find out until the middle of the book that Heidi, the protagonist's little sister, is not clumsy and awkward simply because she is the pesky little sister but because she has a physical disability. The child's mother had been disguising all of the child's problems under a veil of cuteness. Unable to admit that a problem existed, the mother had virtually forced it to disappear. It is only after Heidi admitted that she needed help and underwent physical therapy that she was able to lead a satisfactory life—although not one without bitterness toward the overprotective mother.

Konigsburg has also written two historical novels for children, one delving into the mystery of the Mona Lisa, and the other bringing to life Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom Konigsburg depicts as a strong-willed, highly intelligent woman who, Konigsburg claims, is "everything the woman's movement is." Here Konigsburg has one of her characters state: "True simplicity is elegance." This philosophy permeates Konigsburg's writing, which is candidly simple and unpretentious, yet not without depth and elegance. Konigsburg treats her material with sophistication, trusting that her readers have the capacity to consider complex ideas. Like the characters in her books, Konigsburg's readers grow after having been exposed to the intellectual stimulation of her books.

Other Works:

Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (1967, recorded 1992). About the B'Nai Bagels (1969). George (1970). Altogether, One at a Time (1971). A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver (1973). The Dragon in the Ghetto Caper (1974). The Second Mrs. Giaconda (1975). Talk, Talk: A Children's Book Author Speaks to Grown-Ups (1995).

Bibliography:

Barrett, P. A., To Break the Silence: Thirteen Short Stories for Young Readers (1986). Greenberg, M. H. and Waugh, C., eds., A Newbery Christmas: Fourteen Stories of Christmas by Newbery Award-Winning Authors (1998). Greenberg, M. H., Waugh, C. and Alexander, L., eds., A Newbery Halloween: A Dozen Scary Stories by Newbery Award-Winning Authors (1998). Hanks, D. T., E. L. Konigsburg (1992). Smith, S. N., "Father Doesn't Know Best Anymore: Realism and the Parent in the Junior Works of Judy Blume, E. L. Konigsburg, and Richard Peck" (thesis, 1981).

Reference works:

CA (1969). Children's Literature Review (1976).

Other references:

Book List (June 1995). Commonweal (23 May 1969, 20 Nov. 1970). CSM (2 Nov. 1967, 1 May 1974). E. L. Konigsburg (audiovisual, 1983). E. L. Konigsburg Interview (audio, 1980). Good Conversation! A Talk with E. L. Konigsburg (audiovisual, 1995). Horn Book (Apr. 1967, Aug. 1968, Dec. 1970, Aug. 1971, Oct. 1973, Oct. 1975). New Statesman (4 June 1971). Newbery/Caldecott Medal Acceptance Speeches (recording, 1997). NYTBR (5 Nov. 1967, 30 Mar. 1969, 8 Nov. 1970, 30 May 1971, 14 Oct. 1973, 5 Oct. 1975, 7 Nov. 1976). Profiles in Literature [E. L. Konigsburg] (audiovisual, 1983). SR (22 Apr. 1967, 21 Oct. 1967, 9 Nov. 1968, 22 Mar. 1969, 4 Nov. 1970).

—RISA GERSON