Citation:
Balliett, B. (2004). Chasing Vermeer. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Summary: Calder and Petra are two young kids who get caught up in the crime of the century when a very famous painting is stolen and they take it upon themselves to find the painting and whoever stole it.
Review:
Booklist starred (April 1, 2004 (Vol. 100, No. 15)“Gr. 5-8. The Westing Game, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler--how exciting to find a book that conjures up these innovative, well-loved titles. That's exactly what Balliett does in her debut novel, which mixes mystery, puzzles, possibilities, and art. The story is set in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood at the University of Chicago's Lab School, where Balliett was a teacher. There, outsiders Petra and Calder become friends as they try to find out what happened to a missing Vermeer painting. That's really all the plot one needs to know. More important are Balliett's purpose in writing and the way she has structured her story. The former seems to be to get to children to think--about relationships, connections, coincidences, and the subtle language of artwork. To accomplish this, she peppers her story with seemingly random events that eventually come together in a startling, delightful pattern. The novel isn't perfect. It glides over a few nitty-gritty details (how did the thief nab the picture), and occasionally the coincidences seem more silly than serendipitous. However, these are quibbles for a book that offers children something new upon each reading. Adults who understand the links between children's reading and their developing minds and imaginations will see this as special, too. Helquist, who has illustrated the Lemony Snickett books, outdoes himself here, providing an interactive mystery in his pictures” (Titlewave, 2011).
Impression: I think this book would be good for younger readers who like puzzles and solving riddles. I thoroughly enjoyed the book except that the mastermind behind the theft is never revealed nor do we find out how the thief managed to steal the famous Vermeer painting. I have to admit that I had never heard of Vermeer but the book gives you a lot of background on the painter. I am not much of an art aficionado but after reading the book; I researched some of his paintings and recognized a couple of them.
Is this crazy or what? As I sit here and type my blog, the television is on and a commercial comes on with two couples talking and one couple comments to the other on how they love their Vermeer paintings. The other couple don't know what they are talking about. The wife proceeds to explain how Vermeer was a famous Dutch painter and painted over 30 paintings. The other couple comment that they just love the color yellow. What a coincidence. After the commercial, I went back and looked at the Vermeer paintings that I had found on Google images and noticed he did use a lot of yellow in his paintings.
Library Setting: Have students find the hidden message amongst the chapter illustrations. “A certain living creature (a frog) plays a part in deciphering the code, and pieces of the message appear in the artwork at regular intervals that create a pattern within the book. Here is a hint: This pattern is even but odd. It has many pieces as a set of pentominoes” (Bailett, 2004) To check answers, students can go to www.scholastic.com/chasingvermeer.
Side note: According to Bailett, a set of pentominoes is a mathematical tool consisting of twelve pieces. Each piece is made up of five squares that share at least one side. Pentominoes are used by mathematicians around the world to explore ideas about geometry and numbers.
Titlewave. (2011). [Review of the book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Bailett] Retrieved from http://www.titlewave.com/search?SID=6a81f9377bfc07226586f3fbe9319cf6
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