Some of my favorite places in the world are museums, and some of my favorite children's books take place in museums. One of the most popular and beloved books set in a museum is E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. This book, about two children who run away from home and live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a fictional realization of my own lifelong fantasy of living in the Metropollitan Museum, and I am sure that I am not alone in this dream. Here are a few excellent books for children who love art or museums, or cool stories.

The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

An adventure inspired by the Thorne Rooms, an exhibition of sixty-eight exquisitely crafted miniature rooms in the Children's Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, envisions a magical key that enables people to shrink to a small enough size to visit the rooms directly and discover hidden secrets and the mysterious activities of previous visitors.

Behind the Canvas by Alexander P. Vance

While on a field trip to the art museum, Claudia Miravista sees a boy in a painting, who moves from painting to painting. She becomes determined to free him from the artistic prison he has endured for over three hundred years.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett

When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

Eddie Red Undercover: Mystery on Museum Mile by Marcia Wells

Sixth-grader Edmund Xavier Lonnrot, codename "Eddie Red," has a photographic memory and talent for drawing anything he sees, and when the NYPD is stumped by a mastermind art thief, Eddie becomes their secret weapon to solve the case.

Framed by James Ponti

Florian is twelve years old and has just moved to Washington. He's learning his way around using TOAST, which stands for the Theory of All Small Things. It's a technique he invented to solve life's little mysteries such as: where to sit on the on the first day of school, or which Chinese restaurant has the best eggrolls. But when he teaches it to his new friend Margaret, they uncover a mystery that isn't little. In fact, it's HUGE, and it involves the National Gallery, the FBI, and a notorious crime syndicate known as EEL. Can Florian decipher the clues and finish his homework in time to help the FBI solve the case

The Frame-Up by Wendy McLeod Macknight

Discovering that the paintings in his father's gallery are alive, a budding artist is pulled into a fantastical world of devious plots, shady characters and grand art heists that threaten the safety of his new friend, a girl in a century-old portrait.

From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

Suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn't just want to run from somewhere she wants to run to somewhere, to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and preferably elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing that her younger brother, Jamie, has money and thus can help her with her serious cash flow problem she invites him along. Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie, find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at an auction for a bargain price of $250. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn't it? Claudia is determined to find out. 

Guggenheim Mystery by Robin Stevens

While visiting their cousin Salim in New York City, Ted and Kat investigate the theft of a famous painting from the Guggenheim Museum for which Salim's mother is the prime suspect.

Masterpiece by Elise Broach

When he finds himself involved in a case to recover a famous drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 11-year-old James turns to his miniature and artistically talented friend, Marvin the beetle, for help in solving the mystery and bringing the culprit to justice.

Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald

When Theodora Tenpenny spills a bottle of rubbing alcohol on her late grandfather’s painting, she discovers what seems to be an old Renaissance masterpiece underneath. That’s great news for Theo, who’s struggling to hang onto her family’s two-hundred-year-old townhouse and support her unstable mother on her grandfather’s legacy of $463. There’s just one problem: Theo’s grandfather was a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she worries the painting may be stolen. With the help of some unusual new friends, Theo's search for answers takes her all around Manhattan, and introduces her to a side of the city—and her grandfather—that she never knew. To solve the mystery, she'll have to abandon her hard-won self-reliance and build a community, one serendipitous friendship at a time.

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Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.