Yesterday I read The Wright 3 by Blue Balliet.  She also wrote Chasing Vermeer and both books are set in Oak Park and involve the same kids, Calder and Petra, both brainy in different ways (right and left brain types).  In The Wright 3 a new kid is added, Tommy, who was Calder’s best friend before he moved away and has now moved back again.  The same quirky, smart, and motivating teacher is at the helm of these kids’ class and in this book Ms. Hussey alerts them to the newest outrage in town, the proposed deconstruction  of a Frank Lloyd Wright House, the Robie House, with parts going to museums around the world.

The two books both are chock full of historical and artistic information, and it is always a treat to see how Calder and Petra think and how they work together to combat problems.  In this book Balliet works to once again create the creepy, shadowy, threatening  atmosphere that worked so well in Chasing Vermeer but she fails. It is just not an interesting or scary or engaging read.

Adding in the third character of Tommy, another kid with a strange family background and with his own distinctive set of issues and interests didn’t work either. Balliet created conflict between the three characters but resolved the conflict too facilely to be satisfying.

In Chasing Vermeer the characters, both adults and kids, had to overcome realistic obstacles of self-deflating habits, pre-conceptions, lack of support from others, and self-doubt, to reach the final chapters of realizing their goals and coming together as people and learning to trust their own brains, as well as the hearts and brains of others.  The growth the characters went through was compelling and good, solid lessons were taught to young readers without sounding preachy or dull.  In The Wright 3, the characters are static and predictable, the parents obvious and without any point at all in the plot, and the plot flogged too hard, and laden down too heavily with red herrings, undefined danger, and cultural references.

A few kids will like this book and will be inspired to play with pentominoes, and read The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, and perhaps even learn more about Frank Lloyd Wright.  But Chasing Vermeer is a better book, more fun for everyone, scarily thrilling but also warm and engaging. The Wright 3 is the sequel that tried hard  but just doesn’t fly.