Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett is a story about two sixth graders who go on a magical adventure! The book starts out by 3 anonymous people receiving a letter asking for help to uncover the truth about an artist named Vermeer. You find out at the end of the book that these three people in fact live in the same area and are related in many ways. Petra and Calder seem to be your typical sixth grade students, until you realize that they think very differently than other sixth graders. They are mesmerized by puzzles, asking questions, and trying to think about and explain the inexplainable. When a famous paing done by Vermeer called A Lady Writing is stolen on the way to a Chicago art museum, Petra and Calder beleive they are destined to help discover where the stolen painting is being kept. They each have things happen to them that they can't explain but that help them become closer and closer to solving the mystery of A Lady Writing. I don't want to give the whole book away, but eventually they do find A Lady Writing and realize that every single person and event that happened to them is connected. Chasing Vermmer was an excellent book. In fact, I didn't put it down once until I was finished. One thing that I especially loved is that I got a very clear visualization of what the actual lady in A Lady Writing looked like. She is described in great detail as a lady with a yellow jacket with fur on the edges and she looked old-fashioned. Her hair was pulled back tightly with shiny ribbons and her dangly, pearl earrings were very shiny from catching the light just right. Anyone can visualize this image perfectly. Another aspect that I loved about the book were Petra and Calder's way of thinking. They didn't think like typical sixth graders, or even typical adults for that matter. They were much more concerned about looking, rather than seeing. They are mesmerized by all of the "coincidenses" happening around them. I love the way they are always thinking things are bigger than what they seem and how they are constantly asking questions. For example in one scene Petra sees a random vision of the lady in A Lady Writing. At the time she doesn't know who she is and dresses up as her for Halloween. When Calder sees her he knows who she is dressed up as and Petra explains that they lady came to her in a vision and she had no idea she really existed. "So how did you dream about something you didn't know existed?" Calder asks her. Petra replies with, "I wonder if paintings that float in your mind on their own are kind of like flying frogs or disappearing people." Calder says, "Mmm...you mean your dream might be part of something bigger." This is a perfect example of just how these two sixth graders think. They are mature thinkings for their age thinking out of the box and connecting events to a bigger picture. And there are many more examples of this way of thinking throughout the book. I'm not saying that students who read this book will start thinking like this, just that it would be good for students to realize there are different ways of thinking and looking and things. I also enoyed the illustrations.I especially like the illustration after Petra and Calder find A Lady Writing in a secret storage space. The illustration shows Petra and Calder sitting down in what looks like a tight space. They have their flashlight shining on the half-unwrapped painting. The looks on their face really show how they must be feeling. Calder looks shocked, and very frightened. Petra looked worried, but doesn't look as scared as Calder. They both look like they don't really know what to do next, and they also looked shocked that they were right about the coincidenses that happened to them. Overall I think Chasing Vermeer is an excellent book for fifth to maybe eighth graders. Personally, I really really enjoyed it myself. It opens up the opportunity for different kinds of thinking and the opportunity to think of the different events, people, and feelings in the world to somehow all be connected.
"A Da Vinci Code for tweens." - NewsweekThis is only one of the quoted praises lumped on Chasing Vermeer and proudly emblazoned on its back cover. It is probably the most apropos quote because it hinges almost entirely on the readers' familiarity with and reaction to Dan Brown's novel.If you found Da Vinci Code boring, trite, melodramatic, sophomoric, and preposterous, you will probably have a similar reaction to Blue Balliett's debut young adult novel, Chasing Vermeer.Balliett has stated that it took her five years to write Vermeer, but the central mystery is so lousy and ridiculous, it comes across as the product of a very drunken weekend in an art gallery. Similar to Brown's trainwreck of a novel, Balliett lumps absurd coincidences on top of sleuthing skills that are based less on clues and more on silly guesses:"She wears all those earrings - there's a key, a pearl, a high-heeled shoe..."Calder was muttering now. "Key-pearl-shoe... shoe-pearl-key... pearl-shoe-key... heel-key-pearl... key-pearl-heel...""Hey! That sounds like 'keep her here,' doesn't it?... maybe this means she's in Gracie Hall!" (p. 155)Come on! Really? Is that what being a detective is like? Making goofy connections between unrelated items? Sherlock Holmes must be rolling in his literary grave. All this would probably be tolerable if the characters were more than paper-thin sketches of precocious children and erudite villains, or if the public reactions to the stolen art weren't so far-fetched, or if the red herrings weren't so obvious, or if the transitions between character narration weren't so jarring. Unfortunately the believability is sacrificed at every turn.Librarians sometimes recommend books they haven't read. After all, we can't read everything, but we want kids to read as much as possible. Perhaps I should have listened to the 8th grade girl who stomped up to me last May, Chasing Vermeer trapped in her fist. "This book," she sneered, "is beyond boring." Her buddy glared at me, too. "It was terrible, Mr. Prince. Terrible." Point taken, kids. Point taken.
What do You think about Chasing Vermeer (2004)?
I liked this book because it was fresh, unique, and had two interesting protagonists that I loved reading about. However, I had a problem with the actual plot of the story there are a few things that I did not like: (view spoiler)[1) a lot of the time it felt very contrived. The author tries to pass this off by having the characters marvel at "coincidences" and talk about coincidences, but recognizing an inherent problem with your story doesn't get rid of it or satisfy the reader. Calder and Petra just happen to get a premonition that something is going to happen to the "A Lady Writing" picture; they just feel like the stolen painting is hidden at Delia Dell Hall (surprise, it is); Petra miraculously has these visions in her dream that help her solve the mystery; and Calder with his stupid pentominoes which "coincidently" keep showing him letters that are significant to the mystery. There are a dozen more "coincidences" than the few I've written here. It's not believable, and it doesn't make any sense. Especially when the reader KNOWS the author is the one making these "coincidences"; it's not organic. 2) The mystery and the thief's "Great Cause" is ridiculous and underwhelming. The beginning of the story makes it out like the thief is this noble vigilante trying to right a horrible wrong done to Vermeer. You know what this is? Too many paintings have been erroneously attributed to Vermeer and no art historians are doing anything about it. Oh no! That's so horrible! Whatever shall we do?? Ahhhhh -.- Even though the thief turned out to be a crappy, no-good lowlife, a bunch of citizens actually got fervently worked up over his "cause" and felt like they had a duty to fix this "atrocity."3) the frogs and the hidden messages in the pictures. Basically, it's stupid and was irrelevant to the actual story. (hide spoiler)]
—T
There is much to admire in this book, but unfortunately quite a bit to dislike as well. The story of two kids who solve a mystery will encourage young readers to question authority, think outside the box and look for interesting connections in the world around them. All good things, right? Unfortunately, there is a whole lot of potential problems with the kind of philosophy this book advocates. A belief in parapsychology is a dangerous thing to instill in children because it easily leads them to believe that their instincts are as valid as accepted science. I am quite unsettled by the idea of teaching kids to look for patterns in everything because this the thought process paranoids use. While questioning authority is on the face of it a healthy idea, once you start believing that people in paintings are talking to you and that the random drawing of geometrical shapes is conveying messages to you - well that is very dangerous thinking indeed.Quite frankly this book scares me. We have too many nuts running around already who are convinced that the Jews knew about 911 beforehand and that Nostrodamus picked the next Stanley Cup winner. Do we really need to convince our kids that their instincts are just as valid as accepted truth? Can't we find a more balanced approach? One that relies on a scientific method rather than voices from 300 year old dead Dutch women?
—Tyler Jones
Raining Frogs, Secret Codes, a Lost Vermeer Painting, and Pentominoes – What Do They Have in Common? Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee, students of Ms Hussey’s sixth grade class, discover that many strange things are happening around their neighborhood and that their teacher, Ms. Hussy, seems to be involved!A valuable Vermeer painting disappears and then Calder’s friend, Tommy, sends a secret coded message to Calder about another strange disappearance. Before they know it, Calder and Petra are drawn into a tangled web of clues that baffles even the FBI. --------------------I love Ms. Balliet’s powerful descriptions of people, places, and events in this story! She challenges the reader to dig deep and learn about the missing art treasure. Who is Vermeer? What is an art forgery? Ms. Balliet invites the reader to solve the secret codes and even suggests that Calder’s pentominoes have a certain quality of intuition.Just like the famous detectives Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, Calder and Petra must use their powers of intuition and problem-solving skills to help them decipher this mysterious puzzle. Each clue leads to more questions and only by reading to the very end of the story will the entire mystery be solved. “The game is afoot!”
—Sue Leatherman
