Blue’s Clues: On the Case with the Wright 3

This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on Mar. 23, 2006 Sign up now!

By Shannon Maughan -- Publishers Weekly, 3/23/2006

Author Balliett and illustrator Helquist at last week's launch party.

Take two bright, inquisitive kids from Chicago, add an intriguing mystery involving an art masterpiece, stir in some secret codes, pentominoes, visual puzzles and edge-of-your-seat suspense. What have you got?

That would be Chasing Vermeer (Scholastic, 2004), the surprise bestselling debut novel from Blue Balliett that Newsweek dubbed “The DaVinci Code for tweens.” Thus far the book has over 700,000 copies in print, and has been translated into 31 languages. A feature film is in the works at Warner Bros., produced by Plan B Productions, which is headed by Brad Pitt.

But Balliett isn’t finished dishing up surprises. This spring, she has spiced up her original literary recipe by incorporating a third young Chicago sleuth and an architectural wonder by Frank Lloyd Wright to produce a highly anticipated sequel called The Wright 3 (April), which Scholastic is bringing to market with a 300,000-copy first printing.

The Wright 3 In the new book, sixth-grade friends and budding art detectives Petra and Calder are joined by Calder’s pal Tommy as they launch into action (wholly encouraged by their teacher, Ms. Hussey) trying to save Robie House, Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark creation located in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, from its slated demolition. As the kids become devoted to the art-restoration efforts, spooky happenings, a coded message and a fishy item that may have been Wright’s lost talisman come into play—all ingredients likely to delight Balliett’s fans.

Though a sequel makes perfect sense now, it wasn’t always on Balliett’s writing menu. As a former art history major, and a then-teacher at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory School (Petra and Calder’s alma mater), Balliett wrote Chasing Vermeer as “the book I wanted to read to my students that year.” When it was published to such acclaim, it caught the book world—and the author—pleasantly off-guard. “I had absolutely no idea that it [Chasing Vermeer] would be so successful,” Balliett said. “I honestly didn’t think the book would ever leave my classroom.”

Balliett at work.

But then “something interesting happened when I finished Chasing Vermeer,” said Balliett. “Calder and Petra were still very alive in my imagination; they were talking in there. Either I wasn’t through with them, or they weren’t through with me.” She took this creative nudge as an opportunity to give the characters “a completely different kind of art challenge. The Robie House is right in this neighborhood [Hyde Park, where Balliett lives], right in their neighborhood,” she explained. “I began looking at it as a huge, 3-D piece of art that allows kids the chance to walk around inside it and see it in different weather and different light; it encourages them to think about art in a new way.”

As those who appreciate the detail and accuracy in Balliett’s books can tell, her artistic streak runs deep. She traces it back to a childhood in New York City. “At that time, kids would go in and out of museums all the time with their friends,” she recalled. After studying art history at Brown and then beginning her work with children, Balliett discovered that “many of the complex issues that people in the art world struggle with are never introduced to children. I thought kids deserved more—an entrée into that world—and I thought maybe I could give it to them. I am fascinated by how kids relate to ‘grown-up’ art and I have a deep respect for how they perceive the world.”

Tracy Mack, Balliett’s editor at Scholastic, also has a background in art, and shares Balliett’s artistic vision. That proved a perfect match when Mack was working with illustrator Brett Helquist. Mack and Helquist first devised the idea of building a puzzle element into the illustrations for Chasing Vermeer, and Helquist spent a weekend in Balliett’s home to get a feel for the neighborhood. He bunked with the author again to get a more intimate look at Robie House. “We worked independently, but in tandem,” Balliett says of this slightly unusual author-illustrator relationship.

Robie House.

As a result of The Wright 3, the Frederick C. Robie House is getting its day in the sun. The architectural landmark played host to a launch party for the book on March 14, where Balliett and Helquist were guests of honor, and the Frank Lloyd Wright Presentation Trust will be conducting special tours of the house, open to the public. This sort of community accessibility is another thing Balliett had hoped to emphasize via her work. “As a child, I loved books that I could pull into my real world,” she said. “It’s so much fun to put the books down and then walk around to those real places. I love giving kids something that blurs the line between fiction and real life even more. I hope it spurs kids to look at their own environments, wherever they are, as places that can give them mystery and intrigue.”

Balliett will soon be checking out some new environments as well, beginning with a trip to the Bologna Book Fair next week, where she’ll meet with all the foreign publishers and representatives for her books. Once she’s back in the States, Balliett embarks on a national tour that includes stops in Los Angeles, Boston and New York, as well as visits to a few Frank Lloyd Wright houses around the country. National media includes an April 14 appearance on the Today Show, which will include footage from the Robie House.

And closer to her own backyard, Balliett and her book will be feted at an event at the Art Institute of Chicago this summer. That’s also when the author plans to settle down with her notes for a new book project.

Is this a series in the making? Balliett isn’t quite certain, but provides a few clues about keeping her favorite characters on the front burner. “I had a wonderful time writing The Wright 3 and creating the dynamic between Petra, Calder and Tommy. I like their company, and I like giving them a challenge—and a piece of art—that provokes them to act in different ways. There are so many real-world art ideas and controversial ideas that are fun to think about.”