Chasing Vameer

Chasing Vermeer Written by: Blue Balliett Illustrated by: Brett Helquist
Petra and Calder are both about to turn 12, attend Ms. Hussey’s class 5 days a week, and live on the same street in Chicago but they never became friends until one strange, mysterious event brought them together in ways no one would believe. In late October Ms. Hussey’s class went on a field trip to the art museum only to find out that a famous painting had gone missing. From that moment Petra and Calder decided to join forces with an elderly woman, an unexplainable book, and clues laid out before them to find the culprit leaving codes and secret messages in the newspapers. From there on the book is a series of twist and turns through events that startle the reader that such young children are doing such dangerous things! In the end Petra and Calder find the famous painting that should have been hiding half way around the world (as FBI suggested) in their own back yard and as for the thief known as Fred who you are earlier introduced to as a minor insignificant character; he dies escaping the police!
This book is very easy to read and has the ability to capture a child’s attention easily with its unique format. The book has two grey sketches for each of the 24 chapters. The strength of this book lies in the pictures which are clues to finding out the mystery and who actually took the painting before the end. In the beginning of the book the author states that there are secret codes in the pages of the book and that a certain animal will pop up within the book to help you solve the mystery. The book is fun, inventive, and exciting with puzzles, math codes and clues that keep both children and adults entertained not only with the plot of the story but of the fascination of trying to figure out the mystery before it is revealed to you! A teacher should buse this book in her class as a book to have children browse for silent reading. It could also read as a class where each student reads certain chapters one night, and the next day at school they talk about who they think is doing the crime. It would be fun and exciting for the children to come to class to try to solve a mystery!