Chasing Vermeer (Chasing Vermeer, #1)

Posted on 06 July 2018 by Blue Balliett

When a book of unexplainable occurrences brings Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay together, strange things start to happen seemingly unrelated events connect, an eccentric old woman seeks their company, and an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears Before they know it, the two find themselves at the center of an international art scandal, where no one neighbors, parents, teachers is spared from suspicion As Petra and Calder are drawn clue by clue into a mysterious labyrinth, they must draw on their powers of intuition, their problem solving skills, and their knowledge of Vermeer Can they decipher a crime that has left even the FBI baffled Read Chasing Vermeer (Chasing Vermeer, #1) author Blue Balliett – kino-fada.fr 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 i 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 andon silly guesses S...Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett was given to me by a friend because it was similar to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler As I d read that and liked it, I was eager to read this I ve recently becomeinterested in Vermeer, so that added to my motivation.There are some things I liked about the book There are two protagonists who are both perceived as nerds, but they are initially interesting and rather likeable Their names, by the way, were carefully chosen by Balliett Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett was given to me by a friend because it was similar to From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler As I d read that and liked it, I was eager to read this I ve recently bec...This book may very well be the worst book I have ever read in my entire life Why Let me break it down for you There s a painting It gets stolen Lucky for the art museum of Chicago, three fifth graders have a plan to get it back So if you d ever read the last three chapters of flat stanely, you have read this entire book First of all, I generally hate mystery books anyway, which is most likely a prime factor of my hatred for this book Secondly, I hate mysteries that involve children, just This book may very well be the worst book I have ever read in my entire life Why Let me break it down for you There s a painting It gets stolen Lucky for the art museum of Chicago, three fifth graders have a plan to get it back So if you d ever read the last three chapters of flat stanely, you have read this entire book First of all, I generally hate mystery books anyway, which is most likely a prime factor of my hatred for this book Secondly, I hate mysteries that involve children, just adding on to my hatred This entire book includes about five separate mini mysteries within one large mystery, so it s like six mysteries which like sextuples my hatred for this book Lastly, there was a whole secret language that you need to decode in order to understand parts of he book, which was irritating and took me about an hour to decode each paragraph ...I loved parts of this book and disliked other parts, so there you are the epilogue ending is particularly bad in that I don t know how to work all this into the plot, so here, this is what happened kind of way The there s no such thing as coincidence stuff would have been way overdone in any other book, but I understand that that was one of the author s main points here still, I wasn t convinced And the art history reads as coming straight from the author s Brown BA at least twenty yea I loved parts of this book and disliked other parts, so ther...I finished reading this to my 9 year old last night, then poked around here on Goodreads, assessing what reader response had been when the book was originally published.I was surprised by how many reviewers didn t like this book, or couldn t finish it Believe me, I understand the issues readers had with plot points Yes, the plot does unravel somewhat at the end Yes, the bad guy here was a stretch of the imagination, and too many sloppy bits were thrown in at the end I m never a fan of no I finished reading this to my 9 year old last night, then poked around here on Goodreads, assessing what reader response had been when the book was originally published.I was surprised by how many reviewers didn t like this book, or couldn t finish it Believe me, I understand the issues readers had with plot points Yes, the plot does unravel somewhat at the end Yes, the bad guy here was a stretch of the imagination, and too many sloppy bits were thrown in at the end I m never a fan of not getting your story straight before you commit it to print However when it comes to criticizing this book as a DaVinci Code for kids Hmmmm Whether you liked The DaVinci Code or hated it, you must admit it was a success It was incredibly readable I practically ate my copy , and it made people think about things for a long time after they closed the cover So, in regard to that, I say so what if it s like a DaVinci Code for kids Is that a bad thing, o...Another YA purchase from Green Apple books, and to be honest, a disappointment This is a new ish book, published in 2004, and while I had never read it before, I had high hopes I had read reviews that said it was clever, it has expert illustrations by Brett Helquist Lemony Snicket s illustrator , and the inside flap lead me to believe it was a puzzle tale in the same vein as The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin Chasing Vermeer is not a terrible book, but it didn t live up to my expectations.It Another YA purchase from Green Apple books, and to be honest, a disappointment This is a new ish book, published in 2004, and while I had never read it before, I had high hopes I had read reviews that said it was clever, it has expert illustrations by Brett Helquist Lemony...Through a string of seemingly unrelated events, Calder and Petra find themselves in the center of an art heist that has the world buzzing and the Police and museum officials puzzled Can Calder and Petra find the priceless Vermeer before it s too late And what exactly do their teacher Ms Hussey and Mrs Sharpe, the old lady down the street, have to do with it The University of Chicago campus and Calder and Petra s neighborhood of Hyde Park are the backdrop for this fast moving tale of art and Through a string of seemingly unrelated events, Calder and Petra find themselves in the center of an art heist that has the world buzzing and the Police and museum officials puzzled Can Calder and Petra find the priceless Vermeer before it s too late And what exactly do their teacher Ms Hussey and Mrs Sharpe, the old lady down the street, have to do with it The University of Chicago campus and Calder and Petra s neighborhood of Hyde Park are the backdrop for this fast moving tale of art and intrigue Balliett seamlessly weaves together many disparate elements to craft a tale that is rich in art history and adventure Helquist s the illustrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events stylized, detailed and somehow spooky illustrations help bring the characters and the setti...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 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...This book was a lot of fun to read It reminded me a little of a Da Vinci code for younger minds, only in some ways this book was a lot trickier Throughout, there is a pentomino code, and another hidden code which I never tried to decipher, although I saw the clues Codes aren t my thing But I was still pulling out a notebook to decrypt the letters going between two friends in certain chapters.I think this is a really original and unique book, that looks at things in all sorts of ways ways we This book was a lot of fun to read It reminded me a little of a Da Vinci code for younger minds, only in some ways this book was a lot trickier Throughout, there is a pentomino code, and another hidden code which I never tried to decipher, although I saw the clues Codes aren t my thing But I was still pulling out a notebook to decrypt the letters going between two friends in certain chapters.I think this is a really original and unique book, that looks at things in all sorts of ways ways we might usually not The range of topics covered is somewhat broad, but they flow together, and while in some cases the thinking behind it all seems highly advanced, at the same time, younger people tend ...SPOILER ALERT Have you ever tried to solve a mystery Well Petra and Calder have The genre of this book is mystery.Its mystery because Calder and Petra are trying to find the famous Vermeer painting that has been stolen My overall opinion of this book is i loved it because it s so fun and loved the creativity In the beginning of the book Petra and Calder receive a letter from an unknown person asking them for help fixing a crime involving art This letter threatens them, telling them tha SPOILER ALERT Have you ever tried to solve a mystery Well Petra and Calder have The genre of this book is mystery.Its mystery because Calder and Petra are trying to find the famous Vermeer painting that has been stolen My overall opinion of this book is i loved it because it s so fun and loved the creativity In the beginning of the book Petra and Calder receive a letter from an unknown person asking them for help fixing a crime involving art This letter threatens them, telling them that if they go to the authorities, their lives will be in danger Calder and Petra,they are eleven year old students at the University School, located near Chicago Calder knows Pentominoes.In the middl...

English
06 July 2018

Blue Balliett