The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Scholastic Press, 2006)

In Blue Balliett’s sequel to the fantasy mystery Chasing Vermeer, Calder Pillay’s old friend Tommy Segovia returns to Chicago’s University School one week before the end of the school year. But everything has changed for Tommy. He no longer lives across the street from Calder, but instead lives in an apartment overlooking Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Robie house, several blocks away. And Calder went and made friends with a girl Tommy hardly knows, one Petra Andalee. Tommy longs to do something that will create a big splash so that he can feel important. When the class learns that the Robie house has been slated for demolition, and the class makes a decision to save it, Tommy searches for a chance to find an important clue. But Calder’s insistence that he make friends with Petra creates rifts among all three, and they set out, like points of a triangle, in three directions, chasing down clues about fish, dragons, and the Invisible Man, all to save the Robie house from demolition — and from thieves.

As in Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3 weaves together solid clues and fantastic events into one satisfying mystery, but the fantasy elements are even more evident: a mysterious cloaked man who tosses a copy of The Invisible Man from a train, an identical copy to the one Petra picked up at a bookstore; a jade fish that Tommy finds that may be the very fish Frank Lloyd Wright carried as a talisman; and the Robie house itself, that shrugs villains off of its roof and speaks in whispers to its friends.

Brett Helquist’s charming illustrations weave a story of their own. Readers should search them for signs of an animal that is important in the story, and watch for its transformation at the end.

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, illustrated by Brett Helquist (Scholastic Press, 2004).

If you like your mysteries with a touch of fantasy, then Chasing Vermeer is for you. When a well-known Vermeer painting goes missing, sixth graders Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee decide to track it down. First working alone as rivals, the two must join forces to make sense of patterns, coincidence, and the significance of blue M&Ms to unravel the mystery before the thief makes good on his promise to destroy the priceless painting.

Author Blue Balliett fills her fantasy mystery with delightful quirks of place and character. Her two youthful detectives live in Hyde Park in Chicago, where they attend the University School, founded by John Dewey and running on very student-centered principles. Petra and Calder’s teacher, Miss Hussey, seems youthful and scatterbrained, but holds a mystery or two herself — as does the elderly Mrs. Sharp that the children befriend. Calder carries around a set of pentominoes, a twelve-piece set of mathematical tools used to explore geometry, and which Calder uses to explore patterns related to the mystery. Petra has a penchant for writing and uses writing to clarify her ideas. But she also seems to have a hidden talent for “hearing” people who aren’t there — including the woman in the Vermeer painting.

Brett Helquist’s illustrations portray the characters perfectly, and hide an additional mystery: within the illustrations, readers can hunt for hidden pentominoes that spell out a secret message.