Synopsis: On a trip to Woodstock, England with his father, Calder Pillay is thrilled to see that in the town square of this remote village sits an Alexander Calder sculpture. Named for this amazing artist, Calder is entranced by the modern sculpture, but the locals think it is abhorrent. Soon both Calder and the sculpture disappear. Calder's two best friends, Tommy and Petra fly to England to aid in the search for Calder and the missing art.
Review: I sometimes wonder if I'm not a discerning enough reader. I sort of know in my head that The Calder Game isn't quite as good as Chasing Vermeer or The Wright 3. The relationship between Calder, Petra and Tommy isn't quite so dynamic. In large part, this is due to Calder's absence for a large portion of the novel. His character provides the balance for the threesome, and his disappearance makes it impossible for him to fulfill his standard role and means there is a lot of bickering between Tommy and Petra. Next, I know that these kids have grown up in the third largest city in the United States, but I find it hard to believe that any parent in today's world would let their child wander around even a small English town on their own. I find it even less likely that Tommy and Petra would be allowed to go to England to help in the search for Calder. In order to account for the readers' skepticism, there are numerous references made to how safe Woodstock is, but this makes the book less exciting. In the other two books, the setting of big bad Chicago is enough to put the reader on edge. I thought the kids were allowed to wander around a bit too much in the previous books, but the danger of the various situations kept me from thinking about it too much. There are so many references made to the safety of this remote village that it was much harder to stay in the story and believe that something truly sinister had happened to Calder. It was pretty clear from the get go that his disappearance was likely some sort of blunder. Having said all this, I still devoured the book in less than 24 hours. I loved learning about Alexander Calder's work. I loved Brett Helquist's marvelous illustrations, and when I finished the book, I went back to figure out the message written in Calder code. In other words, I can't think of a much better way I could have spent a rainy Sunday than reading this book.
If you enjoyed this novel, you might also like The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman.
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