Pieces and Players

by Blue Balliett

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author of Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliett, comes an all-new Calder mystery.

THE PIECESThirteen extremely valuable pieces of art have been stolen from one of the most secretive museums in the world. A Vermeer has vanished. A Manet is missing. And nobody has any idea where they and the other eleven artworks might be . . . or who might have stolen them. THE PLAYERSCalder, Petra, and Tommy are no strangers to heists and puzzles. Now they've been matched with two new sleuths — Zoomy, a very small boy with very thick glasses, and Early, a girl who treasures words . . . and has a word or two to say about the missing treasure.The kids have been drawn in by the very mysterious Mrs. Sharpe, who may be playing her own kind of game with the clues. And it's not just Mrs. Sharpe who's acting suspiciously — there's a ghost who mingles with the guards in the museum, a cat who acts like a spy, and bystanders in black jackets who keep popping up.With pieces and players, you have all the ingredients for a fantastic mystery from the amazing Blue Balliett.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545299916
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	04/26/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	410,637
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Blue Balliett is the author of several bestselling, acclaimed mystery novels, including Hold Fast, Chasing Vermeer (a Book Sense Book of the Year and an Edgar Award winner), The Wright 3, The Calder Game, and The Danger Box. She writes in the laundry room of her home in Chicago, Illinois, and you can find her online at blueballiettbooks.com.

Editorial Reviews

Advance Praise for Pieces and Players:"Balliett again deftly merges mystery, art and friendship into another perplexing puzzler." — Kirkus Reviews"Fun and engaging." — School Library JournalPraise for Chasing Vermeer:"Balliett is an original . . . Thick with devilish red herrings, this smart, playful story never stops challenging (and exhilarating) the audience." — Publishers Weekly"Puzzles, codes, letters, number and wordplay, a bit of danger, a vivid sense of place, and a wealth of quirky characters enrich the exciting, fast-paced story that's sure to be relished by mystery lovers." — School Library JournalPraise for The Wright Three:* "Another tour de force." — Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewPraise for The Calder Game:* "Balliett outdoes herself with this ambitious novel." — Publishers Weekly, starred review* "Balliett again offers readers new ways to think." — Booklist, starred reviewPraise for The Danger Box:* "This highly satisfying story will enlighten readers even as it inspires them to think." — School Library Journal, starred review"A spine-tingling tale . . . kids are in for an adventure." — Chicago Sun TimesPraise for Hold Fast: "[Blue Balliett's] latest and most heart-rending novel . . . [The] multi-faceted Early Pearl, ever observant and always pondering, shines as bright as any diamond." — New York Times Book Review* "Wonderful . . . will pierce all readers" — Booklist, starred review* "A moving story of homelessness, family, and the love of words and books . . . Enthralling and satisfying." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review* "Balliett paints a vivid picture, a literary composition reminiscent of an Impressionist painting . . . Excellent." — School Library Journal, starred review"This novel abounds in heart, shining a spotlight on the gritty truths about homelessness." — Publishers Weekly"Vivid and compelling." — Bulletin of the Center for Children's BooksA 2013 Parents' Choice Gold Award Winner

From the Publisher

01/19/2015
Calder, Petra, and Tommy from Chasing Vermeer and its sequels join forces with Zoomy from The Danger Box and Early from Hold Fast to investigate the “biggest art robbery ever to happen in the United States”: the heist of 13 paintings and sculptures from a small Chicago museum. Though the story’s museum is fictional, Balliett borrows the outline of a real crime—the 1990 theft of artwork worth $500 million from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—for her plot. As in her previous mysteries, chance and coincidence drive the action, and the narrative is salted with repeated motifs and literary allusions. The eighth-grade sleuths, summoned to help because a museum trustee believes they will do detective work that the adult investigators are incapable of doing, use prime numbers, Mother Goose rhymes, and messages in dreams and from a ghost to crack the case. (The FBI may want to invest in its own Ouija board.) Fans of Balliett’s previous work will find and enjoy the same meld of puzzling mystery and art history in this adventure. Ages 8–12. Agent: Doe Coover, Doe Coover Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2015
Gr 4–6—This time it's a small family museum and 13 missing pieces of art providing the mystery that brings back characters met in previous titles. Tommy, Petra, and Calder are joined by Early Pearl and Zoomy Chamberlain. With all five kids led by their teacher Mrs. Hussey, each of the detective's special skills add to their understanding and help them arrive at the solution. Fans of the previous books will be delighted as these characters continue with their familiar predilections such as Calder's pentominoes clacking in his pockets. The realistic Chicago setting and familiar characters combined with the somewhat ghostly aura in the museum, provide just enough drama and enigmas to solve. The stolen artwork is from various masters comprising the "pieces" mentioned in the title. Uncertainties abound, particularly as the kids question their ability to find the stolen works and the honesty of those asking them to find it. People in black leather jackets appear and disappear without explanation, along with red herring clues. Fortunately, this is a puzzle worthy of the capabilities of our fearsome fivesome. Fun and engaging; a fitting addition for readers addicted to these art mysteries.—Carol A. Edwards, Denver Public Library, CO

School Library Journal

Just as five 13-year-olds become more familiar with each other over the course of Balliet’s latest art mystery, so too does Bahni Turpin become more comfortable in her role as narrator. Her voice gradually loses a formal and slightly distant tone and moves towards a warmer one with convincing and genuine animation as her characters move from awkward and judgmental of each other to convivial and accepting. The five young teens, along with precise Mrs. Sharpe and breezy Ms. Hussey, pursue the disappearance of 13 pieces of art from a Chicago museum. In an author’s note, Balliett herself narrates the story’s connection to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery 25 years ago. A.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

JULY 2015 - AudioFile

2014-11-18
Thirteen-year-old amateur sleuths and best friends Tommy Segovia, Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee join forces with two new junior detectives to tackle a shocking art robbery at a Chicago museum in this sequel to The Calder Game (2010).When 13 priceless pieces of art disappear from the Farmer Museum in a heist Balliett patterns after the 1990 unsolved theft at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Tommy, Calder and Petra are summoned by their former teacher Ms. Hussey to meet with museum trustee Mrs. Sharpe. Mrs. Sharpe introduces them to legally blind Zoomy Chamberlain (from The Danger Box, 2010) and neatnik Early Pearl (from Hold Fast, 2013). Mrs. Sharpe believes the five precocious kids will make "an extraordinary, unexpected, and understated team" to solve the mystery. Working during spring break, the young sleuths notice seemingly unrelated, reoccurring clues (lion symbols; prime numbers three, five and 13; young men wearing black leather jackets; Mother Goose rhymes), which amazingly come together. Closely studying the stolen art, the five problem-solvers discover that it sends a coded message, which eventually leads them to the surprising conclusion. Juggling multiple pieces of art and multiple suspect players (including an interfering ghost), Balliett again deftly merges mystery, art and friendship into another perplexing puzzler. Brain-teasing adventure for thinking kids. (author's notes) (Mystery. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews