Chasing Vermeer

Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. New York (Chapter 2)

2. The shopkeeper at Powell’s (Chapter 4)

3. Frog (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. The letter writer asks for help in solving a crime. (Chapter 1)

2. They are letter-shaped pieces that can be joined together into larger shapes. (Chapter 2)

3. She wants to use the letter for the assignment that Ms. Hussey gave. (Chapter 3)

4. She has a vision of a woman from an earlier time holding a quill pen. (Chapter 5)

Chapters 7-12

Reading Check

1. Her copy of Fort’s book, Lo! (Chapter 7)

2. A Lady Writing (Chapter 8)

3. Red (Chapter 10)

Short Answer

1. Calder decides to look for patterns in Vermeer’s work, because he believes these might form a kind of code. (Chapter 7)

2. He tells Petra that sometimes he thinks his pentominoes are conveying messages to him. (Chapter 9)

3. The painting has been stolen. (Chapter 11)

4. She notices that the kitchen looks like a Vermeer painting. (Chapter 12)

Chapters 13-18

Reading Check

1. Tommy’s stepfather (Chapter 14)

2. A painting (Chapter 16)

3. A fragment of one of the thief’s letters (Chapter 17)

Short Answer

1. They suspect that Ms. Hussey has received a letter from the thief. (Chapter 13)

2. She thinks that Ms. Hussey might have hidden it in the school. (Chapter 15)

3. Calder hides when the principal comes into the basement, and Petra lies and says that he has already gone upstairs, so the principal does not realize that Calder is still there. (Chapter 16)

4. He has been staying with relatives in Washington, DC. (Chapter 18)

Chapters 19-24

Reading Check

1. Mrs. Sharpe’s pentomino words (Chapter 19)

2. A triangle with a rectangle inside it (Chapter 20)

3. The number 12 (Chapter 22)

Short Answer

1. It means that there are many locations in the building that might match Petra’s vision of where the painting is hidden. (Chapter 19)

2. She sees her father walking with the man with bushy eyebrows who intercepted and mailed the letter to Ms. Hussey. (Chapter 21)

3. Calder tells the man that he will destroy the painting if the man comes any closer. (Chapter 23)

4. Xavier Glitts is the person who stole the Vermeer painting. He has been living under the false name “Fred” and is Tommy’s stepfather. (Chapter 24)