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Blue Balliett

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Blue Balliett
Balliett in 2015
Balliett in 2015
BornElizabeth Balliett
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
Notable worksChasing Vermeer (2004)
The Wright 3 (2006)
The Calder Game (2008)
Notable awardsAgatha Award (2004)
Edgar Award (2005)
Children3

Blue Balliett is an American author. She is best known for her award-winning children’s novel, Chasing Vermeer.

Chasing Vermeer, released by Scholastic Press in 2004, is her best-known and most highly praised book. Illustrated by Brett Helquist, it concerns the fictitious theft of a painting by 17th-century Dutch artist Jan Vermeer. The book was a bestseller and won a number of accolades and awards, including the 2005 Edgar Award in the Best Juvenile category.[1] In addition, she was awarded the Agatha Award in 2004 in the category Best Children's or Young Adult.[2]

A sequel, The Wright 3, was released in April, 2006, and a third, The Calder Game, was published two years later, in April 2008. The Danger Box was published in August 2010. Her next book, Hold Fast was published in 2013. Soon after, in 2015, Balliett published Pieces and Players. Out of the Wild Night was published in 2018.[3] Balliett has also published two oral histories involving Nantucket ghost stories in the 1980s, which have been consolidated into one book, "Nantucket Ghosts" released by Down East Books in 2006.[citation needed]

Personal life

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Balliett was born to Elizabeth Platt and Whitney Balliett.[4] She was born Elizabeth Balliett, but her mother started calling her Blue shortly after her birth.[4][5]

Before releasing Chasing Vermeer, she taught third grade at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. During her tenure, she coordinated with NASA astronaut and University of Chicago alumnus John M. Grunsfeld (S.M., '84, Ph.D., '88) to send her pupils' literature and creative artwork into space during a routine Hubble Space Telescope mission on the Columbia space shuttle.[6]

Balliett lives with her husband, three children, a grandson, and a cat.[citation needed]

Bibliography

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  • Chasing Vermeer (2004)[7]
  • The Wright 3 (2006)[8]
  • The Calder Game (2008)
  • The Danger Box (2010)
  • Hold Fast (2013)[9]
  • Pieces and Players (2015)[10]
  • Out of the Wild Night (2018)

References

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  1. ^ "Author Chat: Blue Balliett". Scholastic Teachers. 8 November 2005. Archived from the original on September 23, 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  2. ^ "Agatha Award Winners". www.thebookescape.com. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  3. ^ Keller, Julia (March 20, 2018). "'Out of the Wild Night': With a splish and a splot and a shree, here comes a ghostly whodunit with heart". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Lee, Felicia R. (2004-07-15). "Chasing Art, Sixth Graders And a Dream". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  5. ^ Springen, Karen (August 19, 2010). "Q & A with Blue Balliett". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  6. ^ "Alumnus will travel with Lab Schools’ project to Hubble Space Telescope", University of Chicago Chronicle Vol. 21 No. 10, Feb. 21, 2002.
  7. ^ Wolitzer, Meg (2004-05-16). "CHILDREN'S BOOKS; Cracking the Code". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  8. ^ Liptak, Adam (2006-05-14). "Building a Case". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  9. ^ Nolan, Abby McGanney (2013-03-08). "South Side Story". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  10. ^ Weltman, June. "Book review: 'Pieces and Players' by Blue Balliett". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
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