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Summary
Summary
Spring semester at the Lab School in Hyde Park finds Petra and Calder drawn into another mystery when unexplainable accidents and ghostly happenings throw a spotlight on Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, and it's up to the two junior sleuths to piece together the clues. Stir in the return of Calder's friend Tommy (which creates a tense triangle), H.G. Wells's The Invisible Man, 3-D pentominoes, and the hunt for a coded message left behind by Wright, and the kids become tangled in a dangerous web in which life and art intermingle with death, deception, and surprise.
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
Unlike the set-up in Balliett's Chasing Vermeer, no crime has been committed-yet-when Petra, Calder and Tommy begin the final weeks of sixth grade in the University of Chicago's Laboratory School. But the class does wonder if it's "murder" for the university to demolish a 1910 Frank Lloyd Wright house it owns, and sell off the pieces to different museums (an author's note reports that the real Robie House was almost demolished twice, and that pieces of Wright houses reside in museums the world over). Those who enjoyed the first adventure will be quickly drawn in once more by the charmingly subversive Ms. Hussey who, with her students, hatches a plan to preserve the building. They decide to cut up posters of fine art in front of the house, to demonstrate that, as Petra puts it, "cutting it up would be the same thing as cutting up a priceless painting." The project morphs into an obsession for "the Wright 3": Petra suspects a mysterious stranger is linked to subterfuge surrounding the house; Calder notices that the home is like a giant-size version of his set of pentominoes, and Tommy unearths an ancient jade fish on the grounds that may have been Wright's lost talisman. The blue M&Ms from the first book have been replaced by red gummy "herrings," but other ingredients remain-a sophisticated subject spiced by puzzles, codes and a soup?on of danger-as the titular trio works to stop the wrecking ball from swinging. Ages 8-12. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Calder and Petra, the lateral thinkers par excellence from Chasing Vermeer (rev. 7/04), return, joined this time by Calder's best friend Tommy, back in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago after a year away. While the duo-becomes-a-trio adds a new emotional tension, the story is essentially the same: the kids have to use their luck, pluck, and pentominoes to save an irreplaceable piece of culture -- in this case, Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, which is threatened with dismantlement and dispersion to museums around the world. The author clearly knows and loves Hyde Park, and her story is a tribute not only to Wright's masterpiece (think 3-D pentominoes) but to the adventures to be had in any city neighborhood -- as well as within an inquisitive mind. As with Vermeer, the plot is haphazard and unsuspenseful, with fleeting moments of magical realism conspiring with ""coincidence""to move the story to its conclusion. But the writing and characters are bright as buttons, and what the plot lacks in development is compensated for by its unflagging energy. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 5-8. How many newsworthy art crimes can 12-year-old sleuths thwart in a single year? At least two, as readers will discover in this sequel to Balliett's celebrated Chasing Vermeer0 (2004). After all, "magical coincidences" are what these -thinking-kids' adventures are all about. Tommy Segovia, the best friend Calder corresponded with during the Vermeer crisis, has returned to Hyde Park, and he resents Petra and Calder's tight twosome. But when a house by Frank Lloyd Wright is slated for destruction, the sixth-graders overcome tensions to save the landmark and decode its secrets--among them, an intriguing buried artifact. Leapfrogging connections and mystical messages from Calder's pentominoes once again drive the plot, but some children may find this second installment more arcane than the first, with too much focus on Wright and his genius, difficult-to-follow gleanings from sources as eclectic as H. G. Wells' Invisible Man 0 and Fibonacci, and a central problem that lacks the glamorous hook of an international art heist. But determined fans will grab hold of the true-to-life friendship issues Balliett introduces, and some--particularly her brainiest, most open-minded readers--will emerge energized by the invitation to explore themes of an interconnected universe. A new pentominoes code appears in the narrative, and Helquist likewise embeds another challenge in his drawings (unfinished in the galley). --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-With her distinct style, Balliett returns to Chicago and the detective work of Calder and Petra, sixth graders at the University School. This time they are joined by Tommy, Calder's former best friend who had moved away for a year. In this architectural mystery, destruction threatens Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, and the Wright 3, as the protagonists call themselves, piece together the puzzle that will lead to the building's rescue. While friction initially mars the three-sided friendship, Petra, Calder, and Tommy soon appreciate their individual roles in solving the mystery. Egged on by their unconventional teacher, the Wright 3 utilize Calder's geometric brain, Petra's writing and observing skills, and Tommy's uncanny findings to research and investigate the cryptic messages that Robie House seems to send in its own defense. Balliett elegantly wraps factual information on the building into a dreamy, Debussy sort of mystery in which seemingly random connections in everyday life uncover the hidden enigmas of Robie House and Wright himself. Balliett's atmospheric writing encourages readers to make their own journeys of discovery into art and architecture, creating a mystery subgenre that is as unique as it is compelling. While the book is not perfect-the final chapters jerk rather than flow, and the Wright 3's transition from awkward tolerance to a tightly knit cadre is nothing out of the ordinary-the mystery itself and the perfectly realized setting make this an essential purchase.-Caitlin Augusta, The Darien Library, CT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The determined sleuths from Balliett's fine first novel, Chasing Vermeer (2004), return in another artful mystery, centered on one of Chicago's architectural treasures. As sixth grade wanes, the vibrant Ms. Hussey reveals heartbreaking news: Because of the extraordinary costs of maintenance and repair, Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, a city icon since 1910, will be dismantled in sections and donated to four museums. While the class's spirited campaign to save the building ends with the school year, the passionately curious Petra and Calder press on, abetted by Calder's good friend Tommy, just back from a traumatic year away. The shifting third-person narrative effectively captures the children's tense struggle to transform from duo to trio, and transmits their shared delight in puzzling, excavating and thinking deeply, creating a similarly heightened alertness in the reader. The "Wright 3" take increasingly bold risks to recover a stolen, priceless jade fish (Wright's own lost talisman) and save the Robie House. Many of the elements that made Chasing Vermeer such a success reappear here, from the culturally rich setting, to Calder's pentominoes (now three-dimensional), to Helquist's intriguing illustrations (not seen in their final state). Another tour de force blending art, math, philosophy, history and literature. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
