The Calder Game (by Blue Balliett)

After a class trip to see an exhibition of the works of Alexander Calder in Chicago, Calder Pillay travels to a small village in England with his father, who is attending a conference. There they discover another work of Calder in the town square, but soon after they arrive both the artwork and the boy disappear. Hearing this, Calder's friends, Tommy, Petra, and Mrs. Sharpe, arrive to help with the investigation.

Chasing Vermeer was a tightly woven combination of math, mystery, codes, and art history that was compared to The DaVinci Code. The sequel, The Wright 3, was less tightly woven but still entertaining. But THE CALDER GAME makes it clear that the author went one book too far.

Codes are still here, but have nothing to do with the plot. Pentominoes have become little more than something for Calder to fiddle with. The mystery is bogus, and the kids, after much lurking around, don't even solve it. There's really nothing left except for the author's fascination with art, which she tries to pound into her readers at tedious length. Even the story sags; The author lamely tries to gin up some tacked-on suspense with foreboding chapter endings that lead nowhere and are about nothing -- "a sense of something hovering" (there isn't anything), watching eyes (which are never connected to anyone), strange sounds, and the like. Balliett writes well enough, but it's time for her to move on to a new idea.

Author: Blue Balliett
Illustrator: Brett Helquist
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Publication date: May 1, 2008
Number of pages: 379
Hardcover price: $17.99
Read Aloud: 9
Read Alone: 10