The determined sleuths from Balliett’s fine first novel, Chasing Vermeer (2004), return in another artful mystery, centered on one of Chicago’s architectural treasures. As sixth grade wanes, the vibrant Ms. Hussey reveals heartbreaking news: Because of the extraordinary costs of maintenance and repair, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House, a city icon since 1910, will be dismantled in sections and donated to four museums. While the class’s spirited campaign to save the building ends with the school year, the passionately curious Petra and Calder press on, abetted by Calder’s good friend Tommy, just back from a traumatic year away. The shifting third-person narrative effectively captures the children’s tense struggle to transform from duo to trio, and transmits their shared delight in puzzling, excavating and thinking deeply, creating a similarly heightened alertness in the reader. The “Wright 3” take increasingly bold risks to recover a stolen, priceless jade fish (Wright’s own lost talisman) and save the Robie House. Many of the elements that made Chasing Vermeer such a success reappear here, from the culturally rich setting, to Calder’s pentominoes (now three-dimensional), to Helquist’s intriguing illustrations (not seen in their final state). Another tour de force blending art, math, philosophy, history and literature. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-439-69367-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
Having kept Idaville crime free “for more than a year”—more like 44 years, to be precise—the still-ten-year-old Leroy “Encyclopedia” Brown takes on ten more scams, misdemeanors and outright felonies. Whether dealing with the theft of various precious items (including an autographed baseball from a case that is, literally, cracked) or the efforts of high-school dropout Wilford Wiggins and ne’er-do-well bully Bugs Meany to cheat local children out of their hard-earned savings, the precocious preteen unfailingly delivers the revealing question or significant fact that forces a confession. Only readers well enough informed to know how the author of Alice in Wonderland spelled his pseudonym, or attentive enough to spot the tiny slip in a suspect’s story, will keep up—all others can look to the answers in the back. That’s a formula that still works after more than a generation. (art not seen) (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-525-47924-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2007
Lalicki’s second historical mystery finds escapologist Harry Houdini and his protégé Nate Makeworthy Fuller IV on board the Lusitania, there to uncover the identity of Theodore Roosevelt’s would-be assassin. While they are taking a walk one evening on board ship, a shot is fired; though it’s aimed at Roosevelt, Nate and Houdini suffer minor injuries. Nate has been practicing his skills of observation, so he’s sure he can identify the shooter. Danger lurks around every corner, but Houdini and Nate are well-prepared. Familiar characters, such as stuffy Aunt Alice and Nate’s devoted mother, make an appearance, as does Houdini’s wife Bess. To catch the villain, Houdini puts on a spectacular performance. Lalicki is well-versed in his subjects, but the historical detail sometimes overwhelms the light-heartedness of the story. Readers interested in fiction with historical characters will drink this one up, and it’s also for fans of Dan Gutman’s Qwerty Stevens, Back in Time mysteries. (Historical fiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-374-31679-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
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