Cover Image

The Calder game

by Balliett, Blue, 1955-

Format: Book on CD 2008
Availability: Available at 1 Library 1 of 1 copy

Available (1)
Location Collection Call #
Penn Hills Library Juvenile Fiction CHILDREN CD BAL
Location  Penn Hills Library
 
Collection  Juvenile Fiction
 
Call Number  CHILDREN CD BAL
 
 

Summary
When Calder Pillay travels with his father to a remote village in England, he finds a mix of mazes and mystery, including an unexpected Alexander Calder sculpture in the town square. Calder is strangely drawn to the sculpture, while others in the village have less-than-friendly feelings toward it. Both the boy and the sculpture seem out of place, and then they disappear! Calder's friends Petra and Tommy must fly to England to help Calder's father find him.
Two Calders are missing.
One is a sculpture.
One is a boy.

When Calder Pillay travels with his father to a remote village in England, he finds a mix of mazes and mystery . . . including an unexpected Alexander Calder sculpture in the town square. Calder is strangely drawn to the sculpture, while other people have less-than-friendly feelings toward it. Both the boy and the sculpture seem to be out of place . . . and then, on the same night, they disappear

Calder's friends Petra and Tommy must fly to England to help his father find him. But this mystery has more twists and turns than a Calder mobile caught in a fierce wind . . . with more at stake than first meets the eye.

As she did in her bestselling Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3 , Blue Balliett has created an amazing novel that makes readers observe keenly, feel deeply, and see the world around them in a new and brilliant way.

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "*Starred Review* Calder, Petra, and Tommy, seventh-graders with a penchant for solving art mysteries, return in a new adventure that takes them across the sea. When Calder's father goes to England to attend a conference, he takes Calder along and, rather surprisingly, allows him to wander the streets of tiny Woodstock, where they are staying, and explore nearby Blenheim Palace alone. Before Calder leaves, his class visits an exhibit of famous artist Alexander Calder's work, including an innovation of the museum, the Calder Game. It invites participants to make or visualize mobiles of real or imaginary objects, and throughout the story, the trio continues to play in various ways. Once in Woodstock, the boy is shocked to see one of Calder's sculptures, a recent donation that is despised by the residents. Then the sculpture goes missing, and so does the boy. Both the disappearance of the unsupervised Calder and the arrival of Petra and Tommy to hunt for their friend are contrivances. But to focus on the warts misses the beauty of the story as well as its potent messages about observation, imagination, and connections. Balliett doesn't shirk from putting her characters in danger, but what's fascinating is how she weaves in the kids' attraction to puzzles, words, and found objects as she moves them through literal and figurative mazes. Balliett again offers readers new ways to think.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2008 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Acclaimed for her sophisticated juggling of art concepts, mystery, philosophy and storytelling, Balliett (Chasing Vermeer) outdoes herself with this ambitious novel. Like its predecessors, it asks readers to consider big ideas, this time using the mobiles of Alexander Calder as a springboard. Now in seventh grade, series heroes Petra, Tommy and Calder first see Calder's mobiles at an exhibit at a Chicago museum. There they are introduced to the "Calder game," which invites participants to join five ideas or things that move in relation to one another, while looking for "balance, beauty, and surprise." Three weeks later, Calder accompanies his father to a tiny town near Blenheim Palace in England, where an anonymous donor has installed a Calder sculpture in the ancient town square, much to the villagers' dismay. Curiously, Calder's own presence seems to inspire dismay as well--until he, and the sculpture, simply vanish overnight. The mystery is crafted more solidly than in either of Balliett's previous titles, and the setting--enriched by the hedge maze of Blenheim and the possible proximity of the pseudonymous British artist Banksy--proves completely enticing. And once again Helquist encodes his b&w illustrations with puzzle pieces. Motivated readers will treasure this provocative title. Ages 9-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Calder, Alexander, -- 1898-1976 -- Fiction.
Mobiles (Sculpture) -- Juvenile fiction.
Mobiles (Sculpture) -- Fiction.
Sculpture -- Fiction.
Missing persons -- Fiction.
England -- Fiction.
Mystery and detective stories.
Audiobooks.
Publisher New York :Random House/Listening Library,2008
Edition Unabridged ed.
Contributors Lovejoy, Deirdre, 1962-
Participants/Performers Read by Deirdre Lovejoy.
Language English
Notes Unabridged.
Compact discs.
Description 5 audio discs (approximately 76 min. each) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
ISBN 9780739368022 :
0739368028 :
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