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Summary
Summary
Petra, Calder, and Tommy, the sleuths at the center of the amazing CHASING VERMEER and THE WRIGHT 3, are back with a labyrinthine new mystery to solve.
When Calder Pillay travels with his father to a remote village in England, he finds a mix of mazes and mystery . . . including an unexpected Alexander Calder sculpture in the town square. Calder is strangely drawn to the sculpture, while other people have less-than-friendly feelings towards it. Both the boy and the sculpture seem to be out of place . . . and then, on the same night, they disappear! Calder's friends Petra and Tommy must fly out to help his father find him. But this mystery has more twists and turns than a Calder mobile . . . with more at stake than first meets the eye.
Author Notes
Blue Balliett was born in New York City in 1955. She received a degree in art history from Brown University. After graduating, she moved to Nantucket Island, Massachusetts and wrote two books of ghost stories. She eventually moved to Chicago and taught third grade at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Her first children's book, Chasing Vermeer, won the 2005 Edgar Award in the Best Juvenile category. Her other works include The Wright 3 (2006), The Calder Game (2008), and The Danger Box (2010).
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Acclaimed for her sophisticated juggling of art concepts, mystery, philosophy and storytelling, Balliett (Chasing Vermeer) outdoes herself with this ambitious novel. Like its predecessors, it asks readers to consider big ideas, this time using the mobiles of Alexander Calder as a springboard. Now in seventh grade, series heroes Petra, Tommy and Calder first see Calder's mobiles at an exhibit at a Chicago museum. There they are introduced to the "Calder game," which invites participants to join five ideas or things that move in relation to one another, while looking for "balance, beauty, and surprise." Three weeks later, Calder accompanies his father to a tiny town near Blenheim Palace in England, where an anonymous donor has installed a Calder sculpture in the ancient town square, much to the villagers' dismay. Curiously, Calder's own presence seems to inspire dismay as well--until he, and the sculpture, simply vanish overnight. The mystery is crafted more solidly than in either of Balliett's previous titles, and the setting--enriched by the hedge maze of Blenheim and the possible proximity of the pseudonymous British artist Banksy--proves completely enticing. And once again Helquist encodes his b&w illustrations with puzzle pieces. Motivated readers will treasure this provocative title. Ages 9-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Middle School) Following Vermeer (Chasing Vermeer, rev. 7/04) and Frank Lloyd Wright (The Wright 3, rev. 3/06), Alexander Calder serves as genius-in-residence for Balliett's third book about Lab School classmates Calder Pillay ("the Math Whiz"), Tommy Segovia ("the Finder"), and Petra Andalee ("the Scribbler"). After being inspired by an Alexander Calder exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, the three are separated when Calder goes with his dad to England. Calder and Mr. Pillay discover that the village where they're staying has been recently graced by the mysterious appearance of -- this being Balliett -- an Alexander Calder statue smack in the middle of town square. Complications ensue; Calder disappears (both boy and statue); Tommy and Petra (and elderly Hyde Park neighbor Mrs. Sharpe) fly over to help find him. As in the previous books, Balliett writes wonderfully about art and creativity and is, again, less successful at crafting a coherent narrative, substituting action for trajectory and coincidence for plot development. (Her history could use some brushing up, too: Elizabeth I was certainly not "great-umpteenth grandmother of the current Queen Elizabeth.") But fans of the first two books won't mind a bit.From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Calder, Petra, and Tommy, seventh-graders with a penchant for solving art mysteries, return in a new adventure that takes them across the sea. When Calder's father goes to England to attend a conference, he takes Calder along and, rather surprisingly, allows him to wander the streets of tiny Woodstock, where they are staying, and explore nearby Blenheim Palace alone. Before Calder leaves, his class visits an exhibit of famous artist Alexander Calder's work, including an innovation of the museum, the Calder Game. It invites participants to make or visualize mobiles of real or imaginary objects, and throughout the story, the trio continues to play in various ways. Once in Woodstock, the boy is shocked to see one of Calder's sculptures, a recent donation that is despised by the residents. Then the sculpture goes missing, and so does the boy. Both the disappearance of the unsupervised Calder and the arrival of Petra and Tommy to hunt for their friend are contrivances. But to focus on the warts misses the beauty of the story as well as its potent messages about observation, imagination, and connections. Balliett doesn't shirk from putting her characters in danger, but what's fascinating is how she weaves in the kids' attraction to puzzles, words, and found objects as she moves them through literal and figurative mazes. Balliett again offers readers new ways to think.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2008 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Those precocious art sleuths Calder, Petra, and Tommy are back, and this mystery is every bit as intricate, engaging, and delightful as Chasing Vermeer (2004) and The Wright 3 (2006, both Scholastic). The three seventh graders go with their class to an exhibit of Alexander Calder's mobiles at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Soon after, Calder and his father travel to a remote village in England that has an anonymously donated Calder sculpture, the Minotaur, and a maze at Blenheim Park. Both the boy and the sculpture disappear on the same night. Balliett's love of words and her ability to tuck hidden, subtle clues into her story are evident throughout. Petra and Tommy fly to England to help Calder's dad and the police find their friend. The kids see mobiles everywhere: in the leaves, flying crows, paper trash. Indeed, the whole story is structured as a mobile, with plot and characters twisting and turning, moving and dancing around each other. The young sleuths are able to take what seems to be chance and coincidence and apply their own conclusions to the puzzle wrapped inside this mystery. Balliett's wonderful writing is full of foreshadowing, literary allusions, wordplay, and figurative language. Calder's signature yellow pentominoes play an important role, and the kids create a new code. Helquist's detailed illustrations enhance this multilayered story. Fans of the author's previous novels are in for a treat in this latest adventure.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Balliett's third mystery falls short of Chasing Vermeer's brilliance, and the triangular friendship among Calder, Petra and Tommy, skillfully developed in The Wright 3, receives bumpier treatment here (2004; 2006). The three seventh graders experience a transformative field trip to view Alexander Calder's massive, colorful mobiles. The scene shifts radically when Calder's father takes his son along on a business trip to England. Calder goes missing and stays thus for nearly half the novel. Improbably, Petra, Tommy and their elderly friend Mrs. Sharp fly to England to assist. Intricate plotting involves Blenheim Palace's maze, an anonymously (and roundly disliked) donated Calder sculpture stolen from Woodstock's village square, a mysterious American named Art Wish, the influence of the elusive British guerilla artist Banksy, a gad-about cat and much more. Tommy and Petra's pairing kindles mutual admiration but oddly hapless explorations--Calder, trapped in a Palace waterfall's hidden crevasse, ends up rescued by cops. While a fourth adventure's intimated, problematic construction and too many tidy dei ex machinis (including their nasty teacher's turning terrific) mar this one. (author's notes) (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
