Module 9: Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet (SLIS 5420 review)

Summary: In Chasing Vermeer, Chicago sixth graders Calder and Petra get caught up in an international art mystery. A series of coincidences bring Petra and Calder together and they start to become friends. When a Vermeer’s A Lady Writing is stolen, the coincidences keep happening. For example, after the painting is stolen Petra realizes she had vision of the woman in the painting before she knew about the painting. Petra and Calder soon realize they can use the coincidences as clues to solve mystery and save the priceless painting.

Citation: Balliett, B., & Helquist, B. (2004). Chasing Vermeer. New York: Scholastic Press.

Impression: I love a good mystery, and this one definitely kept me guessing. A Newsweek reviewer called it “A Da Vinci Code for tweens,” and I think that’s a very apt description because of the art-related theme and the sublet yet clever way in which Balliet has woven all the elements of the plot together. For example, the number 12 figures prominently in the book, right down to the number of letters in the main character’s names. There are many other plot points that make Chasing Vermeer interesting and unique, like Calder’s pentominos, and how Calder and Petra eat blue M&Ms as they work out the clues to the mystery. Like Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game, Chasing Vermeer gives readers enough pieces of the puzzle that they can solve some of the mystery on their own, but Balliet throws in enough red herrings to keep everyone guessing until the end.

Reviews:
Newsweek:
Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling is "happily writing," says Scholastic Book Group president Barbara Marcus. But sorry, kids: there won't be a new installment this year. Instead, Harryheads can turn to "Chasing Vermeer," a mystery out this month that critics are calling a "Da Vinci Code" for tweens. ( "It's darn clever," says Joe Monti, a buyer for Barnes & Noble. "A real gem," says Linda Bubon, co-owner of the Chicago bookstore Women & Children First.) The tale, about a sixth-grade girl and boy searching for a stolen Vermeer painting, is by first-time author Blue Balliett, a former art-history major and teacher. Brett Helquist, illustrator of the Lemony Snicket series, arted the book, which five U.S. publishers bid on. "If somebody had told me that [would happen] when I was picking salamior old gum off my classroom floor, I would have said, 'No way'," Balliett says. She's already writing a sequel, a mystery surrounding a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Chicago's Hyde Park. Will she go for seven, like Rowling? "One at a time!" she says.

Springen, K. (2004). The Kid 'Code. [Review of the book Chasing Vermeer, by B. Balliet]. Newsweek, 143(20), 14. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek.html


School Library Journal:
Two 12-year-olds set out to discover what happened to a painting that disappeared en route to the Art Institute of Chicago. A fast-paced, exciting mystery with a host of quirky characters, puzzles, and plot twists.

(2005, April 2). [Review of the book Chasing Vermeer, by B. Balliet]. School Library Journal, 5154-55. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

Use in library: A library could use Chasing Vermeer as part as of a program for elementary school students about secret codes and cypher. Students love to create secret codes with their friends so they can send notes. The librarian running the program could talk about Calder and Tommy’s pentomino code, along with other codes, and help them create their own code.