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sallyavena's review
4.0
Another great book by Balliett that is a great introduction to the Humanities. Here's a full review I did: http://www.compassbookratings.com/reviews/index.php/review/view/1648
onceuponacarm's review
2.0
I couldn't finish this, despite starting it twice. The characters, whom I enjoyed in the preceding books, were flat out annoying (especially Tommy's obsession with his skin and his hyper-awareness of his friends' physical flaws) or faded into the background because we never really heard some of their voices (especially Early--I loved Hold Fast and was excited to revisit her character). Quite a disappointing book after much stronger output from Balliett. Also, I get that the characters are older now (and if I had forgotten, the first couple of chapters seem designed solely to remind readers that the characters are 13), but the made-up swear and guess that FA might begin a mean word and awkward hints of crushes felt neither authentic nor fitting for this book. It is too immature for the 7th/8th grade audience it seems to be aiming for.
ito_ed's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
beemini's review
3.0
I really liked Balliet’s earlier books (Chasing Vermeer, etc.), but this one fell flat for me. It seemed too long with too many dips into too many children’s heads—except they’re not children, as in the earlier books, but adolescents, which makes it very hard to believe that they all lack logic and rational thinking abilities. The disguised Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist made a good plot and I was glad to see a resolution for it where none is likely to be found in real life, but the reading experience was frustrating.
jennyp0208's review
5.0
Blue Balliett is high on my list of favorite YA authors. The way she describes our interaction with art makes me want to go to a museum and stare. I've learned a great amount of art history because her novels made me curious; more than I ever picked up in school. Even my husband who took art history courses in college hadn't heard of the Gardner Museum theft this book is based on. We spent an evening researching it further.
Calder, Petra, and Tommy are now 13, with all the awkwardness that brings. Early (from Hold Fast) and Zoomy (from Danger Box, which I have to read yet) join the team to solve the mystery of the biggest art heist in history. 13 pieces from the Farmer museum have been inexplicably stolen. The kids spend Spring Break analyzing this "prime crime".
Balliett always does a rich job of exploring how we interact with the world. This book frequently refers back to "the deeps" - first a way Zoomy describes his life with blindness, it becomes how all the kids refer to the adult world and it's complexities. No one is all good or all bad; Eagle's character displays this well.
Calder, Petra, and Tommy are now 13, with all the awkwardness that brings. Early (from Hold Fast) and Zoomy (from Danger Box, which I have to read yet) join the team to solve the mystery of the biggest art heist in history. 13 pieces from the Farmer museum have been inexplicably stolen. The kids spend Spring Break analyzing this "prime crime".
Balliett always does a rich job of exploring how we interact with the world. This book frequently refers back to "the deeps" - first a way Zoomy describes his life with blindness, it becomes how all the kids refer to the adult world and it's complexities. No one is all good or all bad; Eagle's character displays this well.
asienerbrown's review
3.0
I gave this book 3 stars because I am a fan of the author. I didn't think this book was anywhere near as good as previous ones, though.
claudine2's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Although it isn't part of the Chasing Vermeer series, I would recommend reading Hold Fast before reading this book. One of the 5 kids in this book is the main character from Hold Fast. It was nice having a background about her, since I already had one on three of the other kids.
I enjoyed this book and the other 4 I've read by Ms. Balliett. She has a unique style or writing and story telling.
I enjoyed this book and the other 4 I've read by Ms. Balliett. She has a unique style or writing and story telling.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death and Death
ofliterarynature's review
4.0
Important pre-review tip: this book has cross-over characters from Balliett's 2 non-Vermeer books, Hold Fast and The Danger Box. I haven't read them, and they aren't absolutely necessary to understand this book, but reading them between books 3 & 4 may enhance the experience of book 4.
Diversity: the three main kids in the series are all bi/multi-racial, and have different family structures (lots of siblings, only child, single parent, etc). The series pulls on ideas from history, math, classic literature, art history and appreciation, and all kinds of pattern recognition (among other stuff I've probably forgotten. It's hella smart, guys). You might need to have a talk with your kids that correlation =/= causation.
TLDR: A good series, wicked smart but better for younger, age-appropriate readers who won't notice it's flaws.
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.
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OKAY. The review:
This series is cursed. Cursed, I tell you!
Book 1 I thought was clever and intelligent, but complained that the use of coincidence to solve the mystery bordered on mystical and deemed it too unrealistic. By book 3 I got my wish - the coincidences were negligible, they didn't solve much of anything, it was very realistic! And incredibly boring. (Book 2 fell somewhere between the two of course).
Book 4 though. It had a great mystery with a good balance of useful/useless coincidence and actual detective work, and this time jumped straight over that 'maybe' border with the mystical and they straight up talked to a ghost. It was wonderful!
But Rebecca, you said it was cursed!
I did, and it's because I got all of my wishes for the last book in this series, but they were served along with a very, very, V E R Y healthy sized portion of [insert whiny teenager voice] p u b e r t y, ugh!
Maybe it's just me, but if this had been the first book instead of the last (that I know of) book, I would have dropped this in the DNF pile 3 minutes in (and very nearly did anyways). One of the charms of reading this series as an older reader is that the protagonists are kids, they're friends, they squabble over kid stuff and it's not much more complicated than that. That changed in book 4, but thank the gods that the worst of it showed up in clumps and I could push through and ignore it the rest of the time. I wish it wasn't there, but the book was still absolutely worth the read!
Diversity: the three main kids in the series are all bi/multi-racial, and have different family structures (lots of siblings, only child, single parent, etc). The series pulls on ideas from history, math, classic literature, art history and appreciation, and all kinds of pattern recognition (among other stuff I've probably forgotten. It's hella smart, guys). You might need to have a talk with your kids that correlation =/= causation.
TLDR: A good series, wicked smart but better for younger, age-appropriate readers who won't notice it's flaws.
.
.
.
OKAY. The review:
This series is cursed. Cursed, I tell you!
Book 1 I thought was clever and intelligent, but complained that the use of coincidence to solve the mystery bordered on mystical and deemed it too unrealistic. By book 3 I got my wish - the coincidences were negligible, they didn't solve much of anything, it was very realistic! And incredibly boring. (Book 2 fell somewhere between the two of course).
Book 4 though. It had a great mystery with a good balance of useful/useless coincidence and actual detective work, and this time jumped straight over that 'maybe' border with the mystical and they straight up talked to a ghost. It was wonderful!
But Rebecca, you said it was cursed!
I did, and it's because I got all of my wishes for the last book in this series, but they were served along with a very, very, V E R Y healthy sized portion of [insert whiny teenager voice] p u b e r t y, ugh!
Maybe it's just me, but if this had been the first book instead of the last (that I know of) book, I would have dropped this in the DNF pile 3 minutes in (and very nearly did anyways). One of the charms of reading this series as an older reader is that the protagonists are kids, they're friends, they squabble over kid stuff and it's not much more complicated than that. That changed in book 4, but thank the gods that the worst of it showed up in clumps and I could push through and ignore it the rest of the time. I wish it wasn't there, but the book was still absolutely worth the read!
yapha's review
3.0
This book unites the five characters from Ms. Balliett's previous mysteries into one large group of five detectives trying to solve the latest art heist. It includes some supernatural elements as well as the artwork speaking to the children in their dreams. Calder, Petra, Tommy, Zoomy, and Early are all thirteen and dealing with the stresses of going through that awkward stage of adolescence as well as the friend and self-esteem road bumps that occur with trying to blend into a new group. This one didn't feel as strong a mystery, but fans of the series will want to read it. Grades 5-7.
katlikespie's review
2.0
2.5 stars for this one. I loved Chasing Vermeer, liked The Wright Three and well-enough enjoyed The Calder Game, but this one was more of the same, but exaggerated in a way that didn't need to be. Now there are five kids, 8 adults, 13 missing pieces of artwork... And puberty. LOTS OF PUBERTY. I get that the author is trying to make the things kids go through seem normal, but hearing about how round Petra's bottom has gotten, that Tommy has hair growing in funny places... I didn't need that, and I didn't need the way that everything when you're that age is full of drama. Everyone is BFFs with people the just met, and then all of a sudden, the characters are fighting.
Also, even though it was in the previous books, it bothered me a lot more in this one that there are connections pointed out that don't actually matter. "Everything is a prime number! That MEANS something!" "There are lions all over the museum!" Ok, and what does that have to do with anything?
Also, while I was cool with the way the artwork seem to speak to the kids in the previous installments, somehow having all 5 kids all dream about artwork speaking to them on the very same night, PLUS a ghost, PLUS a museum heist being potentially solved by teenagers (because the trustees asked them to!)... I couldn't suspend my disbelief.
And, I really didn't need the addition of kids speaking some form of pig Latin/gibberish. I listened to this as an audio book, and I couldn't keep up with the garbled conversation.
Also, even though it was in the previous books, it bothered me a lot more in this one that there are connections pointed out that don't actually matter. "Everything is a prime number! That MEANS something!" "There are lions all over the museum!" Ok, and what does that have to do with anything?
Also, while I was cool with the way the artwork seem to speak to the kids in the previous installments, somehow having all 5 kids all dream about artwork speaking to them on the very same night, PLUS a ghost, PLUS a museum heist being potentially solved by teenagers (because the trustees asked them to!)... I couldn't suspend my disbelief.
And, I really didn't need the addition of kids speaking some form of pig Latin/gibberish. I listened to this as an audio book, and I couldn't keep up with the garbled conversation.