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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
This one wasn't for me. I loved the information about Vermeer, but I found it really unsatisfying that the kids used coincidences to solve the mystery.
I feel a tad guilty saying that I didn't love Chasing Vermeer. Hailed as "The DaVinci Code for kids" and promoted by Al Roker on his children's book club, I thought for sure this one would capture me. It didn't. I'm going to pass it on to my 10 year old and get his opinion. Maybe I'm just too far beyond my tween years to appreciate the book. That being said, I do think that a truly great children's book will appeal to young and old alike and won't necessarily feel as if it has been written down a level. The concept of coincidence is explored in this book, but for me, there were just too many coincidences and too much reliance on supposed secret messages in puzzle pieces to make this book feel comfortable. Sorry. Not a huge fan, but I certainly didn't hate it. It was an OK read.
Amazon.com Review
In the classic tradition of E.L. Konigsburg‰ЫЄs From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, debut author Blue Balliett introduces readers to another pair of precocious kids on an artful quest full of patterns, puzzles, and the power of blue M&Ms. Eleven year old Petra and Calder may be in the same sixth grade class, but they barely know each other. It‰ЫЄs only after a near collision during a museum field trip that they discover their shared worship of art, their teacher Ms. Hussey, and the blue candy that doesn‰ЫЄt melt in your hands. Their burgeoning friendship is strengthened when a creative thief steals a valuable Vermeer painting en route to Chicago, their home town. When the thief leaves a trail of public clues via the newspaper, Petra and Calder decide to try and recover the painting themselves. But tracking down the Vermeer isn‰ЫЄt easy, as Calder and Petra try to figure out what a set of pentominos (mathematical puzzle pieces), a mysterious book about unexplainable phenomena and a suddenly very nervous Ms. Hussey have to do with a centuries old artwork. When the thief ups the ante by declaring that he or she may very well destroy the painting, the two friends know they have to make the pieces of the puzzle fit before it‰ЫЄs too late!
Already being heralded as The DaVinci Code for kids, Chasing Vermeer will have middle grade readers scrutinizing art books as they try to solve the mystery along with Calder and Petra. In an added bonus, artist Brett Helquist has also hidden a secret pentomino message in several of the book‰ЫЄs illustrations for readers to decode. An auspicious and wonderfully satisfying debut that will leave no young detective clueless. --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Amazon.com Review
In the classic tradition of E.L. Konigsburg‰ЫЄs From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, debut author Blue Balliett introduces readers to another pair of precocious kids on an artful quest full of patterns, puzzles, and the power of blue M&Ms. Eleven year old Petra and Calder may be in the same sixth grade class, but they barely know each other. It‰ЫЄs only after a near collision during a museum field trip that they discover their shared worship of art, their teacher Ms. Hussey, and the blue candy that doesn‰ЫЄt melt in your hands. Their burgeoning friendship is strengthened when a creative thief steals a valuable Vermeer painting en route to Chicago, their home town. When the thief leaves a trail of public clues via the newspaper, Petra and Calder decide to try and recover the painting themselves. But tracking down the Vermeer isn‰ЫЄt easy, as Calder and Petra try to figure out what a set of pentominos (mathematical puzzle pieces), a mysterious book about unexplainable phenomena and a suddenly very nervous Ms. Hussey have to do with a centuries old artwork. When the thief ups the ante by declaring that he or she may very well destroy the painting, the two friends know they have to make the pieces of the puzzle fit before it‰ЫЄs too late!
Already being heralded as The DaVinci Code for kids, Chasing Vermeer will have middle grade readers scrutinizing art books as they try to solve the mystery along with Calder and Petra. In an added bonus, artist Brett Helquist has also hidden a secret pentomino message in several of the book‰ЫЄs illustrations for readers to decode. An auspicious and wonderfully satisfying debut that will leave no young detective clueless. --Jennifer Hubert --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
In this book Calder and Petra, 6th graders at the University of Chicago Laboratory School, try to solve an art theft mystery when a Johannes Vermeer painting is stolen en route to their home town of Chicago. As an art lover, a puzzle lover, and a mystery lover, I was easily drawn to this title, but after reading it/listening to it I was left rather baffled.
Leading up to the discovery of the crime, the two protagonist start seeing patterns and coincidences in daily events, several plot lines and story elements begin to cross as they are trying to discover the location of the stolen painting. The thief writes letters that are published in the newspaper about paintings mis-attributed to Vermeer and threatens to destroy the stolen painting if these errors aren't corrected. An elderly women in the neighborhood with a slight connection to Vermeer seeks Calder and Petra's acquaintance. Calder uses pentominos, mathematical puzzle pieces, as a secret code. I appreciate mysteries where the reader can engage in problem solving and creative thought. This story starts out with a great deal of potential for that as well as adventure, but gets increasingly muddled and improbable. The protagonists begin making absurd connections between unrated happenings. My intrigue which started out quite high, continued to wain until the end - there was just too much going on in this overly complex story. Consequently, the resolution feels disappointingly anti-climactic and haphazard.
I listened to the audio narrator of the story, and was at least glad I had the book at hand also. There is a secret code that some letters between characters in the story are written in. It would be fun for readers to crack the code as part of the story experience. Also, there is a secret message in the illustrations, which the reader would miss out on by listening to the story alone. I found it distracting in the audio version the narrator switched back and forth between pronunciations of Petra - the main character's name! She also did sort of silly voices for the characters which might be funny with a younger crowd, but it worked to sort of trivialize the voices of the main characters. The voice she did for Calder, the male protagonist, made him sound goofy and dumb when he's supposed to be an uber-intelligent, problem solver. It detracted immensely.
Leading up to the discovery of the crime, the two protagonist start seeing patterns and coincidences in daily events, several plot lines and story elements begin to cross as they are trying to discover the location of the stolen painting. The thief writes letters that are published in the newspaper about paintings mis-attributed to Vermeer and threatens to destroy the stolen painting if these errors aren't corrected. An elderly women in the neighborhood with a slight connection to Vermeer seeks Calder and Petra's acquaintance. Calder uses pentominos, mathematical puzzle pieces, as a secret code. I appreciate mysteries where the reader can engage in problem solving and creative thought. This story starts out with a great deal of potential for that as well as adventure, but gets increasingly muddled and improbable. The protagonists begin making absurd connections between unrated happenings. My intrigue which started out quite high, continued to wain until the end - there was just too much going on in this overly complex story. Consequently, the resolution feels disappointingly anti-climactic and haphazard.
I listened to the audio narrator of the story, and was at least glad I had the book at hand also. There is a secret code that some letters between characters in the story are written in. It would be fun for readers to crack the code as part of the story experience. Also, there is a secret message in the illustrations, which the reader would miss out on by listening to the story alone. I found it distracting in the audio version the narrator switched back and forth between pronunciations of Petra - the main character's name! She also did sort of silly voices for the characters which might be funny with a younger crowd, but it worked to sort of trivialize the voices of the main characters. The voice she did for Calder, the male protagonist, made him sound goofy and dumb when he's supposed to be an uber-intelligent, problem solver. It detracted immensely.
This is a fun and silly kids mystery novel centered around the art of Johannes Vermeer and the idea that coincidences could really be patterns that contain secret codes. There’s a lovely friendship between a boy and girl that is neither syrupy nor flirty, and an offbeat teacher at a school with a refreshing philosophy about learning. For added flare, there are some secret codes and patterns embedded in the prose. The illustrations are exceptional. Points for featuring the kid detectives as equals, and for having a 3:1 ratio of female to male characters that is unnoticeable unless you’re looking for that kind of thing. The coincidences/clues don’t really add up to the solution of the mystery, things are solved far too easily, and the prose is nothing special, but overall it’s a fun read.
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have very mixed feelings about this. I like Petra and Calder, and I think the mystery is great, but I don't think the author handled it very well. Too much explanation at the end, too much not-very-well-explained randomness as far as clues, and the solution is kind of out of the blue--it took me a few minutes to remember who the heck the bad guy actually was when I heard his name. I think there was a terrific book to be written from this story, but this is not it. I really enjoyed some of the middle sections of the book, but the conclusion is pretty lame and complicated. Good audio book production, though!
really cool, but sometimes tricky to understand. I still don't have it all down.
This is a very sophisticated kids book, reminiscent of the Mysterious Benedict Society. It asks some fascinating questions about art and its importance. Balliett also explores patterns in our world and uses intuition to illustrate the mystery of following those patterns. The stakes are really high and it will keep anyone on the edge of their seat!
Actual Rating 2.5
My Art teacher husband bought the third book in the series years ago and in an attempt to get through our tbr shelf I read the first book. It was fine; if I was in 6th grade I could see how some great educational tie-ins would have really got me into this series. As an adult this isn’t a middle grade book that really grabbed me. The plot sort of gets messy at the end and the who done it is a stretch but I think it’s fine for what it is, but I won’t be picking up the rest. If you want to get your kid into art history I think this could be a great book to make activities around and start that spark.
My Art teacher husband bought the third book in the series years ago and in an attempt to get through our tbr shelf I read the first book. It was fine; if I was in 6th grade I could see how some great educational tie-ins would have really got me into this series. As an adult this isn’t a middle grade book that really grabbed me. The plot sort of gets messy at the end and the who done it is a stretch but I think it’s fine for what it is, but I won’t be picking up the rest. If you want to get your kid into art history I think this could be a great book to make activities around and start that spark.