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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Decent book; a little hard to understand sometimes, but great plot and good characters!
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
2020
Wow, that took me a while to get back to this one, just got distracted. But I still love all of the coincidences that led them to this adventure.
February 15-18, 2015
This time I was able to mostly read the code without the key, and I also figured out the illustrations on my own, though I did remember to use the key and count the frogs.
The thing that I really love about this book is the slight hint of otherworldly to it all.
September 5-6, 2014
I love how this book makes you think. It talks about art and gives some history lessons, but not in any way shoved in your face and it just blends in with the story. I also really loved the characters in this book and just had fun with the whole story.
The other thing that I loved about this book is the hidden code in the illustrations. Another way this book makes you think.
Wow, that took me a while to get back to this one, just got distracted. But I still love all of the coincidences that led them to this adventure.
February 15-18, 2015
This time I was able to mostly read the code without the key, and I also figured out the illustrations on my own, though I did remember to use the key and count the frogs.
The thing that I really love about this book is the slight hint of otherworldly to it all.
September 5-6, 2014
I love how this book makes you think. It talks about art and gives some history lessons, but not in any way shoved in your face and it just blends in with the story. I also really loved the characters in this book and just had fun with the whole story.
The other thing that I loved about this book is the hidden code in the illustrations. Another way this book makes you think.
Like E.L. Konigsburg's classic "Mixed Up Files" and Elise Broach's "Masterpiece," this middle grade novel has two kids solving an art historical mystery. Cute concept, atmospheric setting, but unlike Broach and Konigsburg’s novels, “Chasing Vermeer” wasn’t well-realized. The kids’ central code-breaking tool of the pentominoes…just didn’t make sense, relying less on logic or problem-solving than on a kind of word-association guesswork. The characterization of the young protagonists was pretty strong, and I appreciated the representation of their relationship with their teacher, but overall it didn't work for me.
I enjoyed the mix of puzzles and mystery. It makes the book feel interactive, which is fun for the kids.
It's cute, and the main characters are quirky and likeable. I also enjoyed the illustrations. However, the mystery-solving isn't very satisfying. Their sleuthing is based on dreams, using pentominoes like fortune tellers, and word association. The mystery was presented as something solvable to the reader, then actually solves it through a psychic vision, which seems rather like cheating. I know the author wrote it that way because she wants us to pay more attention to things that seem like just coincidence, but her case wasn't very compelling.
Unimpressive. I like art and mysteries, but this was a mystery of all coincidences and intuition without any facts or research or analysis of any sort. Honestly, though it's dated I'd say to stick with The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler.
This book was a suggestion of a book to read in middle and/or high school that involves more than one common core subject. Petra and Calder are in the same class, live on the same street, were born on the same day, and get dragged into a mystery involving pentominoes, a priceless missing Vermeer painting, and letters from the thief. The kids use their knowledge to deduce and reason out where the painting could have been hidden in Chicago. While it's a quick read, there were a few pieces I missed, therefore confusing the story line for me. This could just be because I was listening to this at work. A nice little mystery in the YA fiction category.
I might have enjoyed this more had I not had its predecessors in the forefront of my brain. Such as, the two kid main characters in Chasing Vermeer becoming obsessed with a work of art which reminded me so strongly of [b:From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler|3980|From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler|E.L. Konigsburg|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512R2HA4RRL._SL75_.jpg|1384549]. And the back rather made it sound like a mystery that could have been written by Ellen Raskin. So, with those two things in mind, this book could be nothing but a disappointment. Well, perhaps 'disappointment' is the wrong word, though it certainly lacked the brilliance and humour I wanted it to have.
That is not to say it was unenjoyable! I did enjoy it. I was especially amused by all the coincidences, because coincidences do happen all the time. Obviously, they don't happen in such unbelievably copious amounts as they do in this book, but they do happen scarily often. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of a movie/book/word/person for the first time and all the sudden, mention of them starts popping up everywhere. And I could name other such coincidental scenarios whose frequency can be quite startling!
Also, it did pique my interest in Vermeer. I want to research him now...
I did like it, but I’m not sure it’s one that I'd want to 'keep and read to my grandkids'.
That is not to say it was unenjoyable! I did enjoy it. I was especially amused by all the coincidences, because coincidences do happen all the time. Obviously, they don't happen in such unbelievably copious amounts as they do in this book, but they do happen scarily often. I can't tell you how many times I've heard of a movie/book/word/person for the first time and all the sudden, mention of them starts popping up everywhere. And I could name other such coincidental scenarios whose frequency can be quite startling!
Also, it did pique my interest in Vermeer. I want to research him now...
I did like it, but I’m not sure it’s one that I'd want to 'keep and read to my grandkids'.
A good book for younger readers. It has some puzzles that need ferreting out, and a plucky, precocious pair of sleuths. It is briskly-paced, and a good, quick read.
The story doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about the teacher and other adults confiding in these kids, but if I were in 5th grade reading this, I'd want to be those kids.
The story doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about the teacher and other adults confiding in these kids, but if I were in 5th grade reading this, I'd want to be those kids.