The Calder Game
Do you ever have one of those moments where the book that you’re reading is so perfect for the time and place? While we were in Chicago I was reading The Calder Game, the third in the series of books by Blue Balliett that include Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3. This amazing book series manages to convincingly portray kids who are endlessly fascinated with art, numbers, and language as they entangle themselves in mysteries.
The main characters, Calder, Petra, and Tommy, live in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago. In Chasing Vermeer, Petra and Calder become unlikely friends as they solve the mystery of Vermeer painting that went missing en route to Chicago. In The Wright 3, Calder’s longtime friend Tommy moves back to Hyde Park, forming an uncomfortable triangle between the friends. The three band together, though, to save Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House from demolition.
The Calder Game begins with the kids going on a school trip to the Alexander Calder exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to take Olive to the Museum of Contemporary Art while we were there. Currently there’s a Jeff Koons show that she would have liked (she’s a fan). I did get to show her the museum made out of legos, though – even with the Calder exhibit!
OK, back to The Calder Game. At the museum, Calder (named after the artist, if you’re wondering) discovers a room where patrons are encouraged to play The Calder Game, making mobiles of their own creation out of objects, symbols or even ideas with five parts moving in relation to one another. This is a theme which carries throughout the book. Soon after, Calder accompanies his father on a trip to a small town in England where they coincidentally discover a Calder sculpture in the town square. Given by an anonymous donor, the townfolk were none to happy about this garish modern art in their town. Soon the sculpture disappears from the town square and Calder disappears along with it. Calder’s father summons Petra and Tommy, the two who know Calder best, to help him find his boy.
Like all of these books, The Calder Game is filled with mystery, a profound love of art, number puzzles, word play, and code-breaking. The wonderful illustrations by Brett Helquist (of Series of Unfortunate Events fame) add another dimension. Hidden in the illustrations of these books are codes for the reader to solve. I highly recommend these books to any curious kid.
In other book news, the much anticipated The 39 Clues launches on Tuesday, September 9. More on that next week!
On Amazon: The Calder Game
