Review: Chasing Vermeer

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.