Blue Balliett

Author profile

born

January 01, 1955 in New York City , The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.blueballiettbooks.com/

genre

Children's Books

About this author

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I was born in New York City and grew up playing in Central Park, getting my share of scraped knees, and riding many public buses and subways. By the time I was a teenager, I sometimes stopped at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Frick Museum after school, just to wander and look and think. The Met has five Vermeer paintings and the Frick three, so Vermeer and I have been friends for many years.
After studying art history in college, I moved to Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts, in order to write. I surprised myself by writing two books of ghost stories, stories collected by interviewing people. My husband and I met and were married on Nantucket, lived there year-round for another 10 years, and had our two children there.
When our kids st...more I was born in New York City and grew up playing in Central Park, getting my share of scraped knees, and riding many public buses and subways. By the time I was a teenager, I sometimes stopped at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Frick Museum after school, just to wander and look and think. The Met has five Vermeer paintings and the Frick three, so Vermeer and I have been friends for many years.
After studying art history in college, I moved to Nantucket Island, in Massachusetts, in order to write. I surprised myself by writing two books of ghost stories, stories collected by interviewing people. My husband and I met and were married on Nantucket, lived there year-round for another 10 years, and had our two children there.
When our kids started school, we moved to Chicago. I began teaching 3rd grade at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. One year my class and I decided to figure out what art was about. We asked many questions, visited many museums in the city, and set off a number of alarms — by mistake, of course.
In writing Chasing Vermeer, I wanted to explore the ways kids perceive connections between supposedly unrelated events and situations, connections that grown-ups often miss. Given the opportunity, kids can ask questions that help them to think their way through tough problems that adults haven’t been able to figure out — problems like the theft of a Vermeer painting!
In The Wright 3, I play with questions about architecture as art, the preservation of old buildings, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy. I wanted to continue exploring controversial ideas within the three-dimensional art world. We need kids to develop into powerful, out-of-the-box thinkers, now more than ever. I believe in making trouble — of the right kind.
My third book, The Calder Game, takes place in a small community in England, a 1,000-year-old town that I visited while on a book tour. I had a wonderful time writing this book. I had to do lots of eavesdropping, poking around, tiptoeing through graveyards, and climbing walls, and then there was all the Cadbury chocolate I had to eat. Alexander Calder's work is art for any age. I first saw his sculpture when I was 9 years old, in a show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. It was art but it was magic, and it left me hungry for more. This, I'm sure, was the beginning of my belief that art is about adventure.
Blue Balliett grew up in New York City and attended Brown University. She and her family now live in Chicago, within walking distance of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. Balliett's books have now appeared in 34 languages. Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the film rights to Chasing Vermeer.(less)

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Books by Blue Balliett

Average rating: 3.75 · 13,419 ratings · 2,000 reviews · 6 distinct works

	Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett, Brett Helquist (Illustrations) 3.72 avg rating — 7,683 ratings — published 2004 — 34 editions	My rating:
	The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett, Brett Helquist (illustrator) 3.87 avg rating — 3,297 ratings — published 2006 — 17 editions	My rating:
	The Calder Game 3.80 avg rating — 1,854 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	My rating:
	The Danger Box 3.45 avg rating — 580 ratings — published 2010 — 6 editions	My rating:
	The Ghosts of Nantucket: 23 True Accounts 3.96 avg rating — 28 ratings — 7 editions	My rating:
	Le Code W 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2000	My rating:

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Series by Blue Balliett

Chasing Vermeer (3 books)
by Blue Balliett

3.77 avg rating — 12,821 ratings

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Quotes by Blue Balliett

“The greatest art belongs to the world. Do not be intimidated by the experts. Trust your instincts. Do not be afraid to go against what you were taught, or what you were told to see or believe. Every person, every set of eyes, has the right to the truth.”
― Blue Balliett, Chasing Vermeer

tags: art , truth

25 people liked it

“What was a foreigner, anyway? Is the place you're born the only place you really belong? At what point do you stop being from "away" and start being from "here"?”
― Blue Balliett, The Calder Game

20 people liked it

“Passing time isn't a steady thing. People try to measure it, but some days seem to have years packed into them, and others pass in the blink of an eye. Some days matter, and others don't.”
― Blue Balliett, The Calder Game

14 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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YA Book Council: Masterpiece by Elise Broach	33	185	May 01, 2009 07:12am
75 Books: Meghan's 2009 Books	102	281	Dec 20, 2009 02:51pm
The Book Challenge: Luann's 2009 Challenge - Author and Title A-Z - COMPLETED!	55	252	Dec 20, 2009 11:18pm
mystery lovers: What series would you suggest for a young reader?	22	63	Apr 09, 2010 01:57am
JoCo Library Teens: Rachel's Snazzy List/Gossip Column	334	29	Feb 27, 2011 07:33pm
Indonesians Who L...: Young Adult: Should we hide the scary parts?	23	34	Jul 30, 2011 08:38am
The Hive 2012: Elizabeth NC's 2012 progress	28	30	Apr 15, 2012 03:58am
Gigi's Company: Author Alphabet	1941	1143	Jun 01, 2012 12:24am

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Blue Balliett

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combine editions
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