November Book Club - Chasing Vermeer

This month's 4th/5th book club book is Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett. Yesterday, students met at lunch recess to discuss the puzzles and codes in the book, and everyone got a set of pentominoes to cut out. The challenge is to see if you can get the pentominoes to fit perfectly in to a 6 x 10 grid. According to the directions, there are thousands of solutions, and you don't have to use all the puzzle pieces. I hope I can figure out at least one solution! Do you want to give it a try? You can print out your very own set by going to clicking HERE. I also came across some fantastic games and activities on the Scholastic website. Try your hand at pattern puzzles, pentomino fortunes, and learn more about the author and the series!

We also looked at Johannes Vermeer's painting, A Lady Writing, which is the centerpiece of the mystery in this book. While the story is fictional, the artwork discussed is real! I'm sure there are many sites discussing Vermeer, but if you want to take a look at the painting I found a site called Essential Vermeer, which had some great information.

An exciting connection I had to the story is that I have been to the Art Institute of Chicago many times (I was born in Chicago, and also went to university there). This, of course, is where Calder and Petra go on their school field trip. While it may be a little far for us to go to the AIC on a field trip, the next best thing is visiting the website!! You can look at stunning artwork hanging on their museum walls without ever leaving home. Ready for your virtual field trip? Click HERE!

Remember: Our adult/student book club meeting will be on Thursday, November 21st at 6:30. It will be fun to see how many readers figure out the final puzzle in the book! (Remember, author Blue Balliett gave this challenge right before Chapter 1.)

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this intriguing book full of coincidences!