Point of View in From the Mixed Up Files

Activity Overview

In this activity, students will examine the author’s point of view and make inferences based on details from the text. There are three unique aspects in this text: periodically, the narrator speaks directly to Saxonberg; it is unclear who the narrator is until chapter eight; and the narrator ends up being one of the main characters in the story: Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler!

Text examples of each of these are:

• "The game was nothing very complicated, Saxonberg... They played war, that simple game where each player puts down a card, and the higher card takes both."
• "In fact when they emerged from the train at Grand Central...Claudia felt that having Jamie there was important."
• And that, Saxonberg, is how I enter the story. Claudia and Jamie Kincaid came to see me about Angel.

Template and Class Instructions

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