When 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 the 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. This quest leads Claudia to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.

柯尼斯伯格1930年出生于美国纽约,但童年的她是在宾州一个小镇度过的。小城里人们彼此熟悉,使她从小便对自我的期望很高。她自幼喜爱读书和绘画,但是柯尼斯伯格在大学和研究所中主修的课程都是化学,而且均有相当好的表现。因为当时创作的种子尚未在她心中萌发。她大学毕业后成为一名化学教师。没想到在她有机会和孩子真正接触后她才发现,虽然化学难不倒她,但她更感兴趣的,却是孩子本身,是学生脑子里在想些什么,而不是实验室中的瓶瓶罐罐。与此同时,她发现自己对绘画产生了浓厚的兴趣。在最小的孩子上学后,她每天早上开始为这个新找到的兴趣投下心力。于是她在教了几年书,也有了自己的小孩后,柯尼斯伯格在1967年正式提起了笔,写下了两本书《小巫婆求仙记》和《天使雕像》。

这两本书,为柯尼斯伯格的写作生涯奏响了轰轰烈烈的序曲,也奠定了她在儿童文学界的地位。在柯尼斯伯格开始写作后,也尝试着自己画插图。她自写自画,旗开得胜。与其他作家的作品比起来,念化学的柯尼斯伯格呈现出的写作风格是属智慧型的,她的作品内容错综复杂描写却精密准确,结构细腻,富有逻辑性和幽默感,这可能得益于她早年的理科学习。她清楚自己创作的目的,并充分掌握了自己的专长和特色,努力为孩子在文学领域中开创一片有深度的天空。

《小巫婆求仙记》是柯尼斯伯格的处女作,曾荣获一九六八年纽伯瑞儿童文学奖银奖；而她的另一部小说《天使雕像》,在同年荣获纽伯瑞儿童文学奖金奖。在美国,获得过多届纽伯瑞儿童文学奖的作家不在少数,但在同一年中囊括金奖和银奖的作家可以说是绝无仅有的。