The Wright 3 facts for kids
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| Author | Blue Balliett |
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| Illustrator | Brett Helquist |
| Cover artist | Brett Helquist |
| Country | United States of America |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's Mystery novel |
| Published | April 1, 2006 Scholastic Press |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 318 pgs. |
| ISBN | 0-439-69367-5 |
| OCLC | 61204254 |
| LC Class | PZ7.B2128 Wri 2006 |
| Preceded by | Chasing Vermeer |
| Followed by | The Calder Game |
The Wright 3 is a 2006 children's mystery novel written by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist. It was released in Spring 2006 and is the sequel to the children's novel Chasing Vermeer. It chronicles how Calder, Petra, and Tommy strive to save the Robie House in their neighborhood, Hyde Park, Chicago. The underlying plot elements include 3-D pentominoes, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Robie House Fibonacci numbers, The Invisible Man, and mysterious occurrences.
A sequel, The Calder Game, was published in 2008.
Origins and inspiration
The Wright 3 is the sequel to Balliett's second novel, Chasing Vermeer. She debated on writing a sequel as she walked around Hyde Park, and the Robie House stood out to her.
Balliett was inspired by the number 3, as it appeared in the triangles of Wright's windows on the Robie House. She then thought about how it was hard to communicate equally with three people and tried to weave the two together.
Synopsis
Calder's friend Tommy Segovia, who moved away a year before, has moved back to Hyde Park, Chicago. He is immediately jealous of Calder and Petra as they received the "glory" of saving a Vermeer painting in the previous book (Chasing Vermeer). Tommy feels that he deserves something as well. In his first new day of class, Ms. Hussey announces that the world-famous Robie House is soon to be demolished, which she considers to be murder. The class takes a field trip to the house, and both Calder and Petra discover that there are many secrets concerning the building that they were not aware of. After Tommy learns to tolerate Petra, the three (who call themselves 'The wright 3') work to save the house, even breaking into it toward the end. Tommy finds a fish talisman in the Robie House garden and realizes it is worth a lot of money. Finally, after saving their own lives against a band of robbers in the Robie house, they manage to save that of the house.
Illustrations
In a few illustrations, there is a drawing of a fish (referring to Frank Lloyd Wright's lucky talisman) that he lost while building the Robie House. They appear in some chapters with the fibonacci sequence. On one of the last illustrations, a dragon can be found, expressing the change from carp to dragon in the story. Toward the bottom of the last picture there are footprints from the invisible man. In some images, a face could be spotted.
