Chasing Vermeer by Blue Ballier Illustrator: Brett Helquist Date of Publication: 2004 ISBN: 0439372941 Number of Pages: 254

REQUIRED READING ABILITY: Average
GENRES: Mystery
THEMES: Appearance versus Reality, Family, Friendship

SUMMARY:
Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee share the same teacher, the same neighbourhood, and at the start of the novel, are about to share the same mystery.

The story begins with three mysterious letters being delivered to houses in the same Chicago neighbourhood. Soon after, their wonderful, creative and mysterious teacher, Ms. Hussey, gives the class a project. She challenges them to “find a letter that changed a life,” and then set out to write her a letter she “won’t be able to forget.” (p. 9) Their attention caught, Petra and Calder each get to work, but a series of seemingly-unconnected coincidences soon result in them working together. When they learn that the painting of A Lady Writing by the artist Vermeer has been stolen, they find themselves on a mission to recover it, with the help of clues that seem too coincidental to ignore, a neighbourhood lady, a handful of pentominoes, the musings of an actual philosopher named Charles Fort, and the occasional blue smartie.

WHO WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK: A kid who...

• enjoys puzzles
• is willing to be challenged to “think outside the box”
• is willing to be led along in a mystery without requiring lots of immediate gratification (i.e. a kid who is willing to see the action unfold along with the mystery).
• enjoys a good mystery
• is from a multicultural background
• likes things that deal in realism and present-day
• believes in coincidences and likes to ponder why things happen
• is interested in philosophy
• likes the interweaving of a bunch of plot threads and information
• is interested in art and art history
• is interested in math and mathematical theory
  

WHAT ELSE?
This is a good read for average kids, but is also a great book for deep discussions with brighter kids. The discussions among them could be fabulous. The novel is often referred to as “the Da Vinci Code for kids.” The illustrations are by the same artist who illustrated Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, and there are illustrations distributed throughout the book, mostly as teasers to the plot.

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