Monday, June 14, 2004

Another new book: Chasing Vermeer



Update: Chasing Vermeer has been named to the 2005-2006 Texas Bluebonnet Reading list.
I have just finished reading Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist. Brett Helquist does the illustrations for the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events books.

What a fun mystery. It has secret codes, mathematical puzzles (pentominoes), a dash of art history and great characters. There is even a coded message/puzzle in the Bret Helquist illustrations. I thought I knew how to decode it but apparently my interpretation is wrong. I do not want to look up the answer on the Scholastic website yet. Readers who enjoyed The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine by Diane Stanley, 2002, will be happy to have a new and interesting mystery to read.

A very enjoyable read for boys and girls.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I really liked this book because vermeer is one of my favorite painters. this book was very interesting because the lady writing is stolen and calder and petra are in a very serious mystery that can be solved if you pay very close attention to. my questions are these:Why do the people riecieve the letter? Who pays Fred to steal the painting? Why would he want to steal the painting if he knows it is worth alot and he knows just because of the money he could be in serious problem?