The Wright 3

Now for my book post, "The Wright 3," by Blue Balliet and illustrated by Brett Helquist. For 9 to 12 year olds, the characters are in the sixth grade and are twelve. While this book is stretching the limits to be fantasy, I really wanted to introduce this book at some point and this is the week it fits best in. It's really a mystery-- but kind of fantasy, mixed with ghosts, haunted house, mysterious voices, codes, patterns, Fibonacci number sequences, panto mines etc.

It is truly a fascinating book for young adults and really aimed to get that middle school group thinking. It is new, 2006 and has won over 12 awards. Some being New York Times Notable Book, Book Sense of the Year Award Winner, Booklist Editors Choice and many more. It is a follow up to the prequel "Chasing Vermeer," which was labeled as "A DaVinci Code for tweens," by Newsweek. I haven't read that one yet, but plan to. I encourage you to take a look at these books, especially if you teach upper elementary or lower middle grades.

The plot involves a real historical landmark, The Robie House, a Chicago masterpiece built by the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The city plans to demolish the building and the main characters Tommy, Calder, Petra and their class plan to save the house. The three are like detectives picking up many intriguing clues throughout the book in search of this secret message left behind by Wright. The illustrations are great too! There aren't a ton, but they also involve hidden messages and images. The language is simple and the plot like many other young adult mysteries, but the characters are so diverse. I like that they come from many different ethnic and diverse backgrounds; Deceased parents, divorce, Indian decent, Middle Eastern, North African, Colombian. If the author didn't write with such diversity in character and themes: ghosts, art, history, mystery, identity searching etc.; this would be a predictable young adult mystery much like the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys type. But, the plot is filled with hidden surprises.

Staci