The Danger Box

Title:

The Danger Box

Author:

Balliett, Blue, 1955- author.

Summary:

In small-town Michigan, twelve-year-old Zoomy and his new friend Lorrol investigate the journal found inside a mysterious box and find family secrets and a more valuable treasure, while a dangerous stranger watches and waits.

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

306 p. ; 22 cm.

Personal Subject:

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882-Fiction.

Subject Term:

Diaries -- Fiction.

Antiques -- Fiction.

People with visual disabilities -- Fiction.

Grandparents -- Fiction.

Families -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Michigan -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Scholastic Press,

Publication Date:

2010

ISBN:

9780439852098

Publication Information:

New York : Scholastic Press, 2010.

Call Number:

J BALLIET

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002566407	Juvenile Fiction	BALLIET	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

An all-new mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing Vermeer and The Calder Game.

A boy in a small town who has a different way of seeing.
A mischievous girl who doesn't belong.
A mysterious notebook .
A fire.
A stranger.
A death.

These are some of the things you'll find within The Danger Box, the new mystery from bestselling author Blue Balliett.

Author Notes

Blue Balliett was born in New York City in 1955. She received a degree in art history from Brown University. After graduating, she moved to Nantucket Island, Massachusetts and wrote two books of ghost stories. She eventually moved to Chicago and taught third grade at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Her first children's book, Chasing Vermeer, won the 2005 Edgar Award in the Best Juvenile category. Her other works include The Wright 3 (2006), The Calder Game (2008), and The Danger Box (2010).

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 5-8-Balliett's latest mystery explores the intricacies of scientific discovery. Wealthy Mr. Zip has arranged for a priceless treasure, stolen years ago, to be delivered to him. He will indulge his dream of savoring this object, and then will return it to society, a magnanimous gesture that will ensure that he is remembered as a hero. Sadly, before the treasure reaches him, Mr. Zip dies of a heart attack. When a mysterious man in possession of the box learns about this, he senses opportunity for personal gain, but before he can learn what he's transporting, his truck is stolen. Switch to our narrator, Zoomy, an engaging 12-year-old who, with pathological myopia, sees the world differently than those around him. Raised by his grandparents, he is pulled into the intrigue when his absent and alcoholic father makes a brief reappearance in his life with the box. Inside, Zoomy and his grandparents find only an old notebook wrapped in a blanket. An inveterate list-maker and notebook-keeper himself, Zoomy immediately falls in love with the journal, sensing a kindred spirit in the creator. He attempts to learn more about its history as the man schemes to reclaim that which does not belong to him, and as issues of The Gas Gazette provide clues but no answers about a "mysterious soul." Balliett demonstrates how danger boxes are all around us-not just as containers of physical objects for which people will hazard a great deal, but as vehicles that expose us to risky ideas and dreams. This highly satisfying story will enlighten readers even as it inspires them to think about their own danger boxes.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publisher's Weekly Review

Balliett's (Chasing Vermeer) latest mystery spotlights the life of Charles Darwin with a boy's investigation into a stolen scientific notebook. Zoomy Chamberlain, 12, has bad eyesight, a touch of OCD, and a need for structure ("[T]he smallest changes can make me jittery-splat, as we call it"). Left on his grandparents' doorstep as an infant, his coping mechanism is keeping all kinds of lists. His highly ordered world implodes when his alcoholic father reappears, arriving with things to sell at the family's antique store. One item captures Zoomy's fascination-a careworn notebook. Sensing the journal's author is a kindred spirit, Zoomy researches the journal's provenance, as the man from whom it was stolen closes in. The tension derived from the danger facing Zoomy is halted by faux newspaper articles that offer biographical information about a "mysterious soul," but which read like didactic asides. As in her previous novels, Balliett sets the action in a real town, Three Oaks, Mich., and details about the setting add appeal. Interestingly, the notebook Darwin used during his 1835 visit to the Galapagos Islands really is missing: it disappeared in the 1980s and is classified as stolen. Ages 9-12. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.