Customer Reviews

The Wright Three

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought I'd give this author's second book a chance even though I found her first one ("Chasing Vermeer") rather disappointing. I like her Hyde Park setting, I like the way she works art into her stories, I like the way the teacher in the book runs her classroom as a place of exploration rather than a lecture hall. So--I thought, thought I--maybe with all these strong elements in place, the author will improve her plotting abilities in her second book.

Alas, no. The story has so much potential that is never met. Once again, coincidence and "intuition" play a huge, way too huge, role in the resolution of the storyline. The Scooby-doo type ending (wherein the bumbling adult bad guys are "unmasked" and supernatural events explained at least in part by their stupid criminal plans) is disappointing and unpredictable from the things we've seen earlier in the story.

The pentaminos storyline has grown wearisome, the bibliomancy one of the kids performs using "The Invisible Man" is irritating and irrelevant, the coded messages simplisitc and unintriguing.

The relationship between the three kids is nicely portrayed--their jealousies of one another, and their attempts to reconcile differences and balance individual needs with group needs. I also liked how the kids in the story work for a cause--saving the Robie House--and I found their demonstration in front of the house in which they "destroy" works of art by chopping them up to be the most interesting part of the book, far superior in terms of action and emotional content than any of the so-called mystery elements. This part of the book is worth reading, and worth having kids read, both because of its philosophies and because it shows how actions by individuals can make a positive difference. Hope the author's next book moves more in this direction and away from the pseudo-mystical, pseudo-supernatural, pseudo-mystery lines the first two have followed.

I think that this book was good and putting it next to the last one I thought that it was a little more interesting. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five was because I thought that the plot of this book was so similar to the last. Also it seemed that the new character, Tommy Segovia, had become the center of attention in the book and pretty much solved the whole puzzle. There did not really seem to be a need for Calder and Petra. Besides that the plot of the story was a really good one and you cant seem to stop reading. All of a sudden you are at the climax of the story. Overall the story was good and full of surprises.

I have to get this off my chest before I begin, I loved Chasing Vermeer. Loved it. At the heart of the story, I thought it was a clever mystery. While the intentional loose ends and coincidences drove me crazy, I thought it was all an integral part of what Blue Balliett set out to create. I couldn't wait to see what she did next and was probably one of the first people bursting down the doors of our local bookseller to buy a copy the day it was released.

Then I got busy, the life of a school teacher isn't easy, and The Wright 3 sat on my shelf for quite a while until recently, I was in the mood for a good mystery. I dusted off the beautiful jacket cover by Brett Helquist and kicked back, ready to see what Calder and Petra were up to now.

I usually like to include a brief synopsis of each book I review, but I have to tell you, I don't know where to begin on this one. Petra and Calder are once again the focus, and this time around, Calder's friend Tommy Segovia has moved back into town, causing all sorts of jealousy between our sleuthing protagonists. Instead of a mystery, this is what really drives The Wright 3 and Balliett does a great job with the trios developing relationship. Tommy struggling as a new kid in school, Petra struggling with Tommy and Calder's friendship, Calder wishing Petra and Tommy would just get along. The tension between the three is almost unbearable. But it's perfectly written.

If only I could say that about the rest of the story. I was okay with Balliett's obsession with coincidences in Vermeer, but this time around, it really gets annoying. In Vermeer, her obsession fit in nicely with the premise of the story. In The Wright 3, over half of Balliett's coincidences never even add up to anything. How many mysteries can Calder solve by building shapes with a bunch of pentomino blocks? How many mysteries can Petra solve in her dreams? I'm ready to see these kids do some real detective work. I guess in order to do some real detective work though, they need a real mystery to solve, something this book is desperately missing.

Balliett tries to create a mystery surrounding Frank Lloyd Wright's, The Robie House, but it falls flat because there is nothing to solve. The house is going to be torn apart with its pieces shipped to museums across the globe. Calder, Petra, and Tommy think they can put together the strange puzzle pieces flying around them and save the house from demolition but the puzzle pieces don't fit together. Most of them never add up to anything. This is a mystery story that is missing a mystery and it's terribly disheartening.

I wanted to like this book. I really, really did. Even while reading the final two chapters, I was faithful that Balliett could still wrap everything up neatly and astonish me. But it didn't happen. I really hope that Balliett will take a break from coincidences and maybe even from Calder, Petra, and Tommy, but I don't see it happening. She's got the talent, there's no doubt about that, but in order to write that one great book I know she's capable of writing, she has to switch gears. Until then, I guess I'll just keep reading, and hoping.

Fans of Balliett's previous book, Chasing Vermeer, will love this latest installment featuring Petra, Calder, Tommy, and the rest of the gang as they try to save Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. A must-have for kids in grades 3-6.

I recently have read the book The Wright Three. I liked it a very much. I think the plot was very clever. I also read the previous book by Blue Balliett, Chasing Vemeer. Both books have been great! The main characters are Petra, Calder, and Tommy. Some parts of the book could have been explained more. For example, the code Calder made up. I think Tommy's part was too big. He found the fish, made tons of plans, saw the brothers sneak into the Robie House, and someone breaks into his apartment. Blue Balliett likes to use numbers in her writing. In The Wright Three she uses the numbers three and thirteen, but in Chasing Vermeer she uses twelves. The Invisible Man is a big part of the book. Petra reads the book during the story. Calder likes to play with a tool called a pentominoes. They are figures made up of five cubes. Each one is named after a letter of the alphabet. One of my favorite elements of the book is coincidences. The book would not be complete without them. I also like how the house has a mind of its own. Overall I think the The Wright Three was great! I definitely encourage you to try this book. When you do, I bet you'll like it!

I think I enjoyed this one better than the first book by Blue Balliett. The same characters from "Chasing Vermeer" appear in this latest art mystery, this time surrounding the Robie House in Chicago built by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright. The house is in very poor disrepair and scheduled to be dismantled into sections and divided among three museums. Ms. Hussey, the 6th grade teacher, convinces her students that they must try to save the structure by generating some publicity and, presumably, millions of dollars needed to restore it to its original glory. Sleuths Calder, Petra, and Tommy form an alliance and noting all coincidences, use their individual skills of code breaking, writing, and collecting things, to figure out how they may be connected and in turn save the Robie House. The author has such a knack at filling the story in with details and creating great characters and a sense of place that the reader cannot help but become consumed by the story. Full of references the reader will want to investigate and codes they will need to break, this fast-paced and clever book will be a hit on many levels.

I enjoyed this sequel to Chasing Vermeer. The focus of the story this time is Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House in Chicago's Hyde Park. In Balliett's FICTIONAL story, Robie house is facing destruction and Petra, Calder, and Tommy must work together to save it. The plot resolution reminded me of a Hardy Boys story with the tidy roll up of the bad guys but that did not bother me.

The interesting history of Frank Lloyd Wright is part of the storyline. Calder is still intrigued with his pentominoes. Fibonacci sequencing and geometry are part of the plot. There are also allusions to H.G. Wells's Invisible Man. Petra, Calder, and Tommy are interesting characters who continue to grow and develop.

Spare me the comparisons to the DaVinci Code that plagued Balliett's Vermeer. This is just a fun read. I am in favor of any book that will spark a young reader's interest in Art (with a capital "A") and other aspects of cultural literacy. In the time crunch of our test-driven school culture, art and artists are getting left behind.

In Blue Balliett's second mystery, Chicago schoolmates Petra, Calder & Tommy learn that Frank Lloyd Wright's deteriorating masterpiece, the Robie House, is designated for an unusual math feat of *L O N G DIVISION*! The Wright gem is to be severed so that sections can be given to four major world museums. With fellow 6th graders, the seasoned sleuths are fired up to save that treasure. Their adventures >>PLUS<< scaline triangles, Fibonacci numbers and pentaminoes . . . are all added to a broth kept simmering with a valuable fish 'find' as well as some unexplained & extraneous happenings. Blue Balliett once again leans heavily on the stylish illustrations of Brett Helquist to add complications so loved by young readers brought up with large doses of fantasy. His many illustrations of the main characters (including "Goldman" the fish) suggest that while all kids don't have "A.D.D's" the chapters do tend to be quick reads.

Some criticisms of "Chasing Vermeer" cited "too many coincidences." In "The Wright 3" author Balliett makes coincidences a necessary part of the book's framework, a legacy from her last book. The average "tween" reader also seems to revel in "codes" whether they make sense or not . . . but they will be enthusiastic about this tale regardless. There are also ghostly figures >>AND<< red herrings netted at every turn. Are the clues mostly imagined? Will Petra & Tommy rub each other out? Have you wondered if author Balliett has teamed up with the NEA to raise the consciousness of "tween" readers regarding the world of Math & its impact? These questions are offered in case you feel a need for more actual mystery!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: In "The Wright Three" readers will encounter more than their *Minimum Daily Requirements* of Quotations.

Perhaps it isn't wise to encourage adults to review books for Young Adults - or "TWEENs." My own book choices at ages 10-13 came from the *MYSTERY* shelf . . . "C" featuring AGATHA CHRISTIE . . . in libraries that didn't have separate YA sections. I grew up longing to 'own' Hercule Poirot's "little grey cells" instead of Calder's pentaminoes. ON BALANCE, adults will probably stick to their long-standing preferences, whether some other Chicago mystery writer, or Christie, P.D. James or Laurie King, and middle-schoolers will be happy to read only reviews by their peers.

If summer brings you to the mid-west Reviewer mcHAIKU suggests you schedule a walk in Chicago's Hyde Park at twilight . . . Be sure to break your leisurely pace long enough to check the shadows behind those puzzling windows . . . AND be grateful along with the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) that the Preservation Trust continues to make progress with the restoration of Robie House.

The awkward investigators Petra and Calder (from Chasing Vermeer) return in this sequel. Petra who, uncomfortable with herself, wishes she was a famous writer without having to go through the unfamous stage, and Calder, obsessed with pentominoes (math tool made of 5 squares sharing one side), puzzles and playing with coincidences , the pair are finishing their 6th grade year. They're joined by Calder's friend Tommy (mostly absent in the first book), who has returned to town and resents the friendship formed by Petra and Calder in his absence. The uncomfortable trio learn through their teacher, Ms. Hussey, Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House is about to be cut into four pieces and sent to different museums. They origanize a movement to save the place, but there's more going on at Robie House than meets the eye: strange lights, worker injuries, hidden codes, and a house that may have a mind of its own. Readers who enjoyed liked Chasing Vermeer will probably enjoy this sequel and solving another mystery with Balliett's young sleuths. There are more art crimes, more clues hidden in pictures, more codes to solve, more pentominoes, more mathematical, literary, and historical connections -- more of everything that made the first book fun. The additional dynamic of Tommy's return makes for some interesting scenes with each character and their own quirks and perspectives taking on a real life of their own in this adventure. Book lovers, young and old, will see themselves in the main characters.

There are many more clever bits, as in the original, leading to many twists and turns generating quite a lot of higher order thinking possiblities. Some of the clever bits are mostly extraneous. Like the original You don't need to find the hidden pictures, again provided brillantly by Brett Helquist of Lemony Snicket's Events or decode the codes (both verbal and pictorial) or understand pentominoes to follow the story -- none of them are integral, but they are fun. While the author introduces interesting sub-strands, like an "Invisible Man" connection, interesting characters like a caped stranger on a train, and interesting ideas like the living house & telepathy and then sometimes drops them without their having served any purposes. As they travel through this mystery, they can find and decode the clues, both verbal and pictorial, scattered throughout the book. Mystery and art lovers will certainly enjoy it, and if their not careful kids might just learn something about FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT and architecture. A good read for 10-14 year olds readers, art teachers and mystery fans of all ages.

Fans of Balliett's prior CHASING VERMEER will be delighted to see the sleuths Petra and Calder return in this sequel, THE WRIGHT 3, which covers another mystery involving a Frank Lloyd Wright architectural masterpiece. A class attempt to save a landmark from demolition results in supernatural influences as ghosts seem to be protecting hidden treasure. Add a coded message and you have a fast-paced thriller filled with twists and turns of plot.