Bound To Stay Bound

View MARC Record
 

Full Text Reviews:

School Library Journal - 07/01/2004 Gr 5-8-Fans of Ellen Raskin's The Westing Game (Dutton, 1978) and E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Turtleback, 1967) will welcome this novel about two classmates determined to solve the mystery of a missing painting. Brainy 12-year-olds Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay attend the University of Chicago Laboratory School where their teacher's unorthodox methods make learning an adventure. When Vermeer's A Lady Writing disappears on its way to exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, the two overcome their adolescent awkwardness and let their friendship bloom, pooling their talents to rescue the masterpiece and expose the thief. Many elements play a role in unraveling the secrets surrounding the crime: Calder's set of pentominoes; his encoded correspondence with his friend Tommy about a missing boy named Frog; and Petra's intuitive communing with the woman in the painting, all augmented by the unusual ideas presented in a strange old book that Petra has found. Balliett also provides lots of plot twists and red herrings along the way. Helquist's atmospheric black-and-white illustrations add to the fun, incorporating clues to a secret message, the answer to which can be found on the publisher's Web site. Puzzles, codes, letters, number and wordplay, a bit of danger, a vivid sense of place, and a wealth of quirky characters enrich the exciting, fast-paced story that's sure to be relished by mystery lovers.-Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. - Copyright 2004 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Bulletin for the Center... - 07/01/2004 Petra and Calder had been nothing more than neighbors and sixth-grade classmates, but something—their shared intellectual curiosity? the designs of a supernatural power?—brings them together as they realize they're in the middle of a mystery. First, they're concerned about their teacher's strange behavior; then they're intrigued by a frosty old lady who's discarded a fascinating book at the local bookstore; finally, a famous Vermeer painting, A Lady Writing, is kidnapped for a very strange ransom—an investigation of the legitimacy of Vermeer's canon—and the kids believe they're the ones to solve the crime. That's just the surface of a book that couples the puzzle-loving intricacy of The Westing Game (BCCB 9/78) with the museum-mystery compulsion (and youthful independence) of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (BCCB 2/68). Diehard puzzle solvers will appreciate the inclusion of letters in code (referred to but not decoded) and the insertion of keys to the mystery in Helquist's humorous yet edgy black-and-white illustrations, but those less driven to solve conundrums can ignore those enticements and still follow the intricate yet energetic plot just fine. Nor is it just a mystery: the kids find themselves examining the very notions of causality, coincidence, and fate (the book they find is a title by Charles Fort, guru of strange-coincidence philosophy), and patterns of meaning turn up so often that it seems clear there's a some kind of extraordinary effect driving Petra's and Calder's investigation (the Lady Writing seems to be a force to be reckoned with independent of her painting, as she drives much of the action herself). Traditional red herrings and dead ends add classic pleasures to this less-than-traditional story, allowing for plenty of reading pleasure by mystery fans, budding philosophers, or just those drawn by the artistic or the unusual. - Copyright 2004 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.

Booklist - 04/01/2004 *Starred Review* The Westing Game, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler--how exciting to find a book that conjures up these innovative, well-loved titles. That’s exactly what Balliett does in her debut novel, which mixes mystery, puzzles, possibilities, and art. The story is set in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood at the University of Chicago’s Lab School, where Balliett was a teacher. There, outsiders Petra and Calder become friends as they try to find out what happened to a missing Vermeer painting. That’s really all the plot one needs to know. More important are Balliett’s purpose in writing and the way she has structured her story. The former seems to be to get to children to think--about relationships, connections, coincidences, and the subtle language of artwork. To accomplish this, she peppers her story with seemingly random events that eventually come together in a startling, delightful pattern. The novel isn’t perfect. It glides over a few nitty-gritty details (how did the thief nab the picture), and occasionally the coincidences seem more silly than serendipitous. However, these are quibbles for a book that offers children something new upon each reading. Adults who understand the links between children’s reading and their developing minds and imaginations will see this as special, too. Helquist, who has illustrated the Lemony Snickett books, outdoes himself here, providing an interactive mystery in his pictures. - Copyright 2004 Booklist.

View MARC Record
Loading...



  • Copyright © Bound to Stay Bound Books, Inc. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy Policy