“Yes,” Petra said slowly. “So if a man were made of glass, he couldn’t be the Invisible Man. But you said sometimes visible, sometimes not … hmm.”
Calder frowned. “I’ve thought of the windows already. I counted geometric shapes and tried to sort them into an alphabet, but it doesn’t work. There’s nothing there.”
“How about if we just look for a man-shape in one of the windows?” Tommy asked.
Mrs. Sharpe sat down next to the hearth.
“Do you know where the code is?” Petra asked her.
The old woman looked vague and patted her bun. “Memory is a tricky thing,” she said slowly.
“Want to come upstairs with us?” Ms. Hussey called from the foot of the third-floor stairwell.
“Still looking down here,” Petra called back. The kids split up and walked slowly around the dining room and living room. Mrs. Sharpe didn’t move.
“Hey!” Tommy stopped in front of a slender casement window tucked into the prow at the north end of the living room. The window was one of a pair, the panels symmetrically folded into the V-shaped wall in a way that made them almost invisible.
“Look!” Tommy’s voice was now bright and eager. “I think it’s a man, like a man a kid might draw!”
Calder and Petra rushed over.
“See? A head — with two eyes and a nose.”
“And arms bent at the elbows,” Petra added. “Three sets of arms, like the Buddha-woman in the Asian Wing!”
“And long legs, and little triangle feet,” Calder exclaimed. He whacked his old friend on the back, and Petra gave him a wild high five.
Mrs. Sharpe got to her feet. “Bravo,” she said.
The Wright 3 beamed.
“We found him!” Tommy shouted. “Come see! It’s Frank Lloyd Wright’s code!”
While Mr. Stone, Ms. Hussey, and Mr. Dare hurried downstairs, Calder stood in front of the man and stirred his pentominoes. He pulled the I out of his pocket and held it against the glass as if it were a short ruler. Moving it back and forth across the window, he counted under his breath.
He spun around and whooped. “It’s a Fibonacci man!” Calder crowed.
As everyone watched, Calder measured the width of the hat on top of the head. “That’s unit one,” he said.
Then he measured the width of the face. “Two.”
Then he measured the collar. “Three.”
Then he measured the widest set of arms. “Five.”
He counted thirteen parallelograms running in a strip down both sides of the body. “Wright coded himself in Fibonacci numbers!” he marveled. “Maybe that’s the invisible part.”
“And it took us thirteen days to save the house,” Petra said. “And we’re turning thirteen this year.”
“And we’re the Wright 3,” Tommy added.
“And today is the twenty-first. I’ll bet there are tons of other Fibonacci numbers if we go back and look,” Calder said. “Weird — just like all this is a part of some big design.”
The group was silent for a moment, everyone’s minds fizzing with ideas.
“I knew about the glass man years ago, and was somehow never surprised,” Mrs. Sharpe said. “After all, this was a house built for children. But the Fibonacci numbers … well, that’s very intriguing, I must say.”
Calder scratched his head happily with the I pentomino.
The president’s cell phone rang, echoing through the empty house. “Excuse me,” he muttered, turning away to take the call.
The president printed several words neatly in a small notebook he pulled out of his pocket. “Yes, absolutely, so exciting! I’ll tell them.”
Dropping the phone back in his pocket, he smiled at the group. “What timing! That was an archivist who has been looking through Wright papers from the year 1905 for a reference to the jade fish. We’re trying to verify its authenticity before selling it, as that of course will make it more valuable. He told me he found this entry, written on Japanese hotel stationery with a drafting pencil:
Bought small jade fish today. Will keep.
Stepping out of the Robie House minutes later, the president said good-bye and hurried back toward his campus office. The others stood outside and squinted into the morning light. A sparrow hopped along the terrace wall, sun sparkled on the Wright windows, and the fan-like leaves of a ginkgo tree spun first one way and then the other in the June breeze.
“That’s incredible news about the 1905 note,” Ms. Hussey said. “What a coincidence that it came just as we found Wright’s code!”
“I wonder what it is about coincidence and us,” Petra said. “Does this happen to other people?”
“I don’t think it’s that unusual,” Mrs. Sharpe said. “I think most people don’t know what to do with it, so they pay no attention. Coincidence reminds me of the repetitions of geometric pattern in the Robie House. The more you look, the more you see.”
Ms. Hussey nodded. “Maybe coincidence is just a tricky echo in the structure of people’s lives, like the tricky echoes in shape and scale that Wright set up.”
“I like that,” Calder agreed.
“Echoes that tell you something,” Petra added.
Tommy grinned as he pulled a tired-looking sandwich bag out of his pocket. “Who wants a red herring?” he asked.
By the end of the summer, Wright’s jade fish had been bought by the Art Institute, which also bought the note on hotel stationery. Fish and note got their own display case in the Asian Wing.
Interestingly enough, there were no further unexplained disturbances in the Robie House during the months of renovation — no more slamming doors, silvery voices, or treacherous windows. No workers were hurt.
Calder, Petra, and Tommy continued to meet regularly in the Castigliones’ tree house. Calder spent most of the summer happily cutting long pieces of wood into perfect cubes, and making multiple sets of three-dimensional pentominoes. When he had thirteen sets, he built his own version of the Robie House.
Petra began her first book. The main character was a girl, one who was sometimes visible and sometimes not, and had two close friends who were boys.
Calder and Petra often went with Tommy on scavenging expeditions; there were lots of places to dig in Hyde Park. His mom gave him a lovely stone fish, an old one from South America, and he began his collection over again. She also gave him a compass and a notebook for mapping each find.
After every rain that summer, the bare footprints of a man were spotted here and there in the mud that collected along the edges of gardens and sidewalks. No one thought much about it. But then, it was Hyde Park, the streets were empty, and almost anything was possible.
I read many books about Frank Lloyd Wright’s life and work before I started to write, and I tried to follow the facts as closely as possible. However, I added or changed a few things. Here they are:
1. While the history of the Robie House is accurate, including the two near-demolitions in 1941 and 1957, the building is not currently in danger. It is now a National Historic Landmark, and is being taken care of by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, the University of Chicago, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Several million dollars have gone toward renovating the outside of the building, and renovation of the interior is still under way. It is open to the public during the day.
The planned fate of the Robie House in this book is close to what has happened to a number of famous and beautiful buildings. Hundreds of Wright windows and several rooms are currently in museums. Sad but true, works of art that large and fragile are difficult to save in one piece.
2. The story of the fish jumped into my mind as I got to know Mr. Wright, and it seemed like it might have happened. Perhaps it did…. Over the years, he brought back many treasures from Japan, and he was both a dreamer and a man of huge ambition. The Asian legends in the story are real, and the fish itself exists. I ‘borrowed’ it for THE WRIGHT 3 from the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler
Gallery in Washington, D.C.
3. The man in the window is right where he has been since 1910, and can be seen at all times of day and in any season. He appears in many photographs and reproductions of the Robie House. (He may even be on the last page of this book.)
Mr. Wright wrote very little about the meaning of his art-glass window designs, and nothing about the existence of the man. Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising — Wright understood the magic of discovery, and never gave away his best secrets.
Blue Balliett’s books reflect her interest in seemingly unexplainable events and her passion to ask questions.
Growing up in New York City, she loved the freedom of city life and exploring its wonders — the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Frick Collection, and Central Park. Blue took public transportation to school and around the city, and discovered early that every crowded bus or train is packed with mystery and drama — she learned that stories are everywhere, and there is always something to wonder about.
After graduating from Brown University with a degree in art history, Blue moved to Nantucket Island in order to write. There she worked as a grill cook, a waitress, a researcher of old houses, and an art gallery director while she wrote two books of ghost stories, stories collected by interviewing people who lived on the island.
When her children started school, the family moved to Chicago, to the neighborhood known as Hyde Park (sound familiar?), and she began teaching third grade at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. One year she and her class decided to figure out what art was about. They were looking for ways to feel comfortable thinking about art, and the real questions art historians live with. They came up with countless questions, visited many museums in the city, and had scavenger hunts that resulted in setting off a number of alarms — by mistake, of course.
These experiences were part of the inspiration behind Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3. Blue also wrote the books to explore the ways in which kids perceive connections between supposedly unrelated events and situations, connections that many adults often miss. Is a coincidence really just a coincidence? And specifically for The Wright 3, Blue was inspired by the Robie House, which is within walking distance of her own home. “I love the idea of something made of brick or stone or wood, something that is not supposed to be alive, communicating,” she says. “Although, of course, that’s impossible…. Or is it?”
A full-time writer, Blue is assisted by her massive cat, who helps by lying on manuscripts, shuffling pages, burying pencils under his belly, and generally keeping things mysterious.
Brett Helquist was born in a very small town in Arizona where there was nothing to see for miles around, except a lot of red dirt. With not much else for him and his six sisters to do, he learned to use his imagination. That and his discovery of the newspaper comic strips — his favorite was Alley Oop — was what started him off drawing. As a kid, he spent many hours dreaming of creating his own comic strips.
When Brett was about eleven years old, his family moved to Utah, where there was a lot to do. He became interested in fishing, hiking, and camping, and didn’t think very much about being an artist anymore. He had decided he wanted to be a scientist in order to better understand the world around him.
Then while in college at Brigham Young University, Brett started to think about art again. He began as an engineering major, but soon realized it was not the right choice. He decided to take some time off and headed for Taiwan. There he stumbled into work illustrating textbooks and a year later went back to school to study illustration. From that moment on, he knew what he wanted to do.
Soon after graduation he moved to New York City, where he still lives with his wife and daughter. Before becoming a full-time illustrator, Brett worked as a graphic designer. His illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers, picture books, and novels. As an artist, Brett tries to be observant, to look carefully, and to discover the beautiful and amazing things all around him.
Q: What made you write a second book starring Calder, Petra, and Tommy?
A: I like their company, and I’m interested in how the three of them get along — each has his or her own way of approaching a problem. Three can be a tricky number, but when Calder, Petra, and Tommy do manage to work together, unpredictable things happen. They even surprise me, and I’m not kidding!
Q: Was the second book harder to write than the first?
A: Hmm. When I wrote Chasing Vermeer, I was still a full-time classroom teacher, and I could only write now and then. By the time I wrote The Wright 3, my life had changed quite a bit. I was working at home, but suddenly my writing life was bigger than our laundry room — where I still write — or my old classroom. That was wonderful but hard to get used to, the idea of having an audience I’d never met.
Q: Do you believe in ghosts and/or in haunted houses? Have you ever encountered a ghost?
A: Many years ago, we lived on Nantucket Island. Lots of people there believe in ghosts, and lots live in old houses. When I first heard some of those stories, I became very curious. I interviewed people and then wrote a couple of books. I’m told that these stories are quite scary in places, but I’ve always been more amazed than frightened by the idea of ghosts in a modern community. About the second question, most people who have lived on Nantucket for a while have seen a thing or two they don’t understand. That includes me.
Q: Why did you choose to feature the Robie House? Frank Lloyd Wright has other, more famous houses that you could have used for the book, yes?
A: The Robie House is right in Calder, Petra, and Tommy’s Hyde Park neighborhood. While I was thinking about what should come after Chasing Vermeer, I took lots of walks. The Robie House windows kept twinkling at me, almost as if they were saying, Yes! I’m here! I then discovered that the building has a mysterious and tragic history, and even some ghost stories. Calder, Petra, and Tommy took it from there.
Q: Art preservation is a strong theme in your books. What makes this so important to you?
A: Most art is fragile and needs to be protected, sometimes from theft and sometimes from its environment. It’s an interesting problem, and a big one in the art world. Kids can definitely help. Most communities have at least one or two wonderful old buildings or murals or pieces of public art that need to be saved. Kids have terrific ideas, and are good at making the right kind of noise. A few plans and a little noise can save a lot of art.
Q: And why focus on Frank Lloyd Wright? What about him intrigued you?
A: I’ve noticed that kids understand and enjoy Frank Lloyd Wright’s way of organizing space with geometry — they understand his language. They also like the way he usually hid a surprise or two in his buildings, like a closet with a door to a secret outside balcony — that’s in the Robie House — or a sudden turn in a hallway that opens to a room you didn’t know was there. He was always experimenting, and he refused to be bored. These are qualities kids respect.
Q: Tommy’s love of Goldman is so genuine. Do you have a goldfish or other pets that you consider part of the family?
A: We have always had pets, and they have always been members of the family, like Goldman. We now have a twenty-pound cat who bosses everyone around and tries to trick us into feeding him. Like Goldman, he knows a great deal.
Q: What is the one thing you hope readers will take away after reading this book?
A: I hope they will take away a feeling that art can be found everywhere, no matter where you live, and that all art is alive, in its own way.
Q: So, Blue, will Calder, Petra, and Tommy have further mysteries to solve?
A: I think they will. They are still keeping me busy with ideas, and I’m now working on another book. And, yes, it has a completely different kind of art mystery to solve, a fat cat with one eye, a puzzle made up of symbols, lots of chocolate, a very old stone town, and a challenge that takes the kids far from Hyde Park.
Q: What was it like working with the same characters again?
&nb
sp; A: It was a lot of fun. I feel like I finally know how to draw Calder and Petra. They feel like old friends.
Q: We never saw Tommy in Chasing Vermeer — were you looking forward to drawing him?
A: Drawing new characters is always a challenge, since it takes a little while to get to know them. I enjoy that.
Q: Do you have a favorite drawing in the book? If so, why?
A: I like the drawing of all the people in the art museum. It was fun hiding all the fish.
Q: Did you do a lot of research for this book? Did you visit the Robie House?
A: I spent a few days with Blue and took a lot of photos. The Robie House is very unique; I felt I had to see it for myself.
Q: Are you a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright?
A: I am now.
Q: Do you believe in haunted houses?
A: I love ghost stories, but I have never seen one. So I don’t know.
If you’ve read Chasing Vermeer or The Wright 3, you probably know that a set of pentominoes consists of twelve pieces, each made from five squares that share at least one side. They are a fun puzzle with endless solutions. There is lots to do using pentominoes, such as …
The Basics
Using a few or all twelve pentominoes, numerous shapes or forms can be created — rectangles of all sizes and shapes, recognizable forms such as animals, or all twenty-six letters of the alphabet, each using exactly twelve pieces. (One fun project is a picture alphabet made entirely from pentominoes.)
Rectangles are a good shape to start with. There are literally thousands of different rectangles to be discovered. If you have some graph paper, you can record all of the three-piece, four-piece, and so on up to twelve-piece rectangles that you make. You may want to organize your findings so you can keep track of what you’re doing. Beware — you’ll run across surprises! You’ll also discover, while you’re doing this, which pieces are easiest to use in a rectangle and which are hardest.
The Wright 3 Page 15