Where’s Vermeer’s A Lady Writing?

I read the book Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett over early January. It is set in in Chicago, Illinois and the time period is probably recent past. Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee are searching for a famous painting by the artist Johannes Vermeer, named A Lady Writing. They start to see things that the professional investigators can’t see. Also, in the illustrations there is a hidden pentomino code, as Calder is obsessed with pentominoes and they help him figure out some clues. If you didn’t know, pentominoes (they are usually in the form of a little plastic chip) are 5 equal squares put together to make 12 different letters of the alphabet. They are: F, I, L, N, P, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z.

Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee are super curious and can make connections easily. Petra and Calder use Calder’s pentominoes to randomly discover clues, like when they use their pentominoes to figure out something is hidden in Delia Dell Hall, nicknamed Delia Dell. This is a good skill for them and it has led them to many conclusions. They are curious because they decide to take the matter of the theft into their own hands. They’re also really good at seeing things that other people cannot see in this theft. They figured out where A Lady Writing was and nobody else could figure it out. There are many decisions that are made by Calder and Petra that are really influential to the story. For example, they have to decide if they want to tell Ms. Hussey (their 6th Grade teacher) about their investigation or if they want to open Mrs. Sharpe’s mail, big events that change their investigation or trust with other characters.

I absolutely loved the book. I thought it was really fast paced. I love how Petra and Calder are made fun of by their classmate (because they spend so much time together) by saying that they are boyfriend and girlfriend and how they eventually come to not care about her words, move past it and move forward with their investigation. I loved the chapter about Halloween. Petra dresses up like a lady from her dream, which Calder has seen before, which is also the lady in A Lady Writing. Super coincidental, or is it?

I recommend this book so much. If you like good mysteries with a good clever touch (like the hidden code in the illustrations), then this is the book for you. It is really full of action. There is a little bit of violence and an injury so I wouldn’t recommend this book for littler kids. I love art and before I read this book I didn’t know who Vermeer was, but now I am excited to see his other works.

My rating of this book is (drumroll, please):

Five stars. Amazing book. Really well written. It includes some beautiful and interesting language.