The Wright 3

A sequel to the Edgar award-winning juvenile mystery, Chasing Vermeer, The Wright 3 (2006) is a children’s mystery novel written by Blue Balliett and illustrated by Brett Helquist. Sixth-graders Petra and Calder, along with Calder’s old friend, Tommy, investigate mysterious occurrences in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House as they try to save the historic home from destruction. The sleuths must untangle codes, solve puzzles with pentominoes, and connect math, works of literature, and historical events to find the solution the mystery. Readers can also find hidden images in Helquist’s illustrations. Balliett counsels the reader, “Don’t forget that sometimes little things can appear big, and big things little—and that what you notice first isn’t always what you’re looking for.”

Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee are finishing their sixth-grade year at Chicago’s University School. Bookish Petra enjoys reading and writing stories in her notebook. Math-whiz Calder uses his 3-D pentominoes—a set of twelve shapes each made up of five squares that share at least one side—to keep his mind sharp. Calder’s good friend, Tommy Segovia, has moved back to Chicago after living in New York City for most of the last year. His parents are divorced, and he lives with his mother, Zelda, and his much-loved goldfish, Goldman. Tommy’s skill is finding treasure. Tommy is jealous of the fame that Calder and Petra received after recovering a famous painting. Tommy feels he “missed some major glory”; it should have been him and Calder who found the missing artwork. Tommy dislikes Petra, and the feeling is mutual. Calder is stuck in the middle between his two friends.

At school, their young, art-loving teacher Ms. Isabel Hussey tells the class that the historic Robie House, built by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1910, is going to be torn down. She calls this a “murder.” The University of Chicago plans to cut the home into four pieces and donate them to prestigious museums around the world because the house requires too many costly repairs to keep it maintained. Ms. Hussey urges the students to think of ways they can help save the home. Tommy, who lives right next to the Robie House, thinks how amazing it would be to find treasure. One day, he unearths a small jade fish. He takes it home and keeps it safe in Goldman’s bowl.



Strange events and odd coincidences begin to occur. Petra sees a mysterious caped man throw a book from a train. Petra discovers it is a copy of H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man: the same book she picked up recently in a free bin at the bookstore. On a visit to the Robie House, Petra thinks she sees a caped man inside. A mason named Henry Dare, the great-grandson of the mason who originally worked on the house with Frank Lloyd Wright, falls from the roof of the Robie House. He feels as if the house shifted and threw him down; as if it were communicating that it needed help. Ms. Hussey and her class stage a protest in front of the Robie House. They cut up posters of famous artworks, illustrating what a loss it would be to cut up the Robie House.

Petra, Calder, and Tommy plan to work together to save the home even after school lets out. However, the three have trouble getting along. Tommy is jealous of Petra’s friendship with Calder, and Petra doesn’t like how rude Tommy is to her. Calder feels that “balancing the two of them stunk.” Eventually, coming to realize that it will take all their combined talents to untangle the mystery, they name themselves the Wright 3. Together, they research the house and discover that every family that lived in the home experienced tragedy. The three friends even hear the house make a sound as if it is moaning. Through observation, they find clues in the windows of the house and in Fibonacci numbers—a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two numbers that precede it. The classic Hitchcock film, Rear Window, takes on special significance when Tommy feels he is being watched by someone inside the Robie House. When the jade fish is stolen from Tommy’s room, Petra, Calder, and Tommy know something nefarious is going on.

Calder, Petra, and Tommy decide to break into the Robie House at night to hide baby monitors so they can listen in on any conversations. Once inside, however, the three friends are caught by two masked men, whom the kids dub “Black Glasses” and “Thin Head.” The men tie the kids up and discuss their plan to burn the house down. Using a secret code that the three developed, Petra communicates an escape plan. She is untied to go to the bathroom; the boys are also untied. They flee to the roof, but Thin Head pursues them. Suddenly, the roof seems to rise in a wave, dumping Thin Head on the ground. Black Glasses ends up in a pile of construction debris.



A firetruck rescues Petra, Calder, and Tommy from the roof. Their parents are upset, but proud the kids saved the Robie House. Black Glasses and Thin Head recover and confess that they planned to steal expensive windows from the building and then commit arson. Police find Tommy’s jade fish in one of the crook’s pockets. The fish turns out to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s special talisman, which he lost during the construction of the house. Tommy suggests that the University of Chicago sell the fish and use the funds to renovate the Robie House. The President of the University is so impressed with the efforts of Petra, Calder, and Tommy that he agrees. Donations pour in, and the University adds plans to build a gift shop. Tommy’s mom receives the job of running the store. She and Tommy will be allowed to live in the Robie House.