Chasing Vermeer

I love anything with math, and this book works pentonimoes into its art mystery for a clever story. Petra and Calder manages to get themselves involved in an international art scandal with a missing Vermeer painting. Clues and connections allow these kids to piece together what's going on, as they consider everyone a suspect. They use their problem solving skills to figure things out.

Two other books follow in this series-Wright3 and Calder Game.

Wonder Struck

This book has not been released yet, but I was given a publisher's copy from Scholastic. Brian Selznick won the Caldecott Medal a couple of years ago with his work The Invention of Hugo Cabret. His unique approach combining a text with a series of successive pencilled illustrations was fun to "read." The pictures allow the reader to infer what is happening, which is awesome!

In Wonder Struck, we meet Ben, who recently lost his mother and is living with his aunt, uncle and cousins. While snopping in his old home, he comes across some curious information that leads him to believe his mom had some secrets and they may lead to the identity of his father.

Again, I loved the illustrative component of this book, but unlike Hugo Cabret, this book has a story within a story and it is predominantly told through the pictures. The 600+ pages seem intimidating, but they race by as the story unfolds.

If you like this book, you will probably like From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler too.