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A review by jennyp0208
Pieces and Players by Blue Balliett
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.