The Mysteries of Harris Burdick [Hardcover]

Chris Van Allsburg (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Fourteen black-and-white drawings, each accompanied by a title and a caption, entice readers to make up his or her own story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Layered in mystery, this extraordinary book will stun imaginative readers of all ages." School Library Journal, Starred

About the Author

Chris Van Allsburg is the winner of two Caldecott Medals, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, as well as the recipient of a Caldecott Honor Book for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. The author and illustrator of numerous picture books for children, he has also been awarded the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children’s literature. In 1982, Jumanji won the National Book Award and in 1996, it was made into a popular feature film. Chris Van Allsburg was formerly an instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife and two children.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 24, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395353939
• ISBN-13: 978-0395353936
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chris Van Allsburg is the winner of two Caldecott Medals, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, as well as the recipient of a Caldecott Honor Book for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. The author and illustrator of numerous picture books for children, he has also been awarded the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children's literature. In 1982, Jumanji won the National Book Award and in 1996, it was made into a popular feature film. Chris Van Allsburg was formerly an instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Curiouser and curiouser, November 23, 2004

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Hardcover)

Picture books have a wide range of purposes in this world. They can teach and inform. They can amuse and entertain. Sometimes, though, I think that the most impressive picture books are the ones that inspire. And not in a gosh-doesn't-that-drawing-of-a-sunset-make-you-want-to-draw-a-sunset-too type mentality. I mean true inspiration. The kind you might find, for example, in Chris Van Allsburg's incredibly entertaining and mysterious picture book, "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick". I can think of no other source in this world better able to inspire children to write their own highly interesting stories. "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" has been used for years as a uniquely original source for stirring up potential tales in the minds of kids everywhere. More importantly, though, it's just a darn good book. Darn good!

Few books for small children actively encourage you to read a long wordy Introduction to them first. This is one of the few. Before we see any of the pictures we are told a tale of one Mr. Wenders and one Mr. Burdick. Mr. Wenders was once a children's book publisher. As he was sitting in his office one day a Mr. Harris Burdick arrived with fourteen illustrations. It seems that Mr. Burdick had written fourteen stories and he had brought an illustration from each of these for the perusal of Mr. Wenders. After dropping off the pictures (each with its own title and line from the book it belonged to) he left and was never seen again. This book is a presentation of those mysterious images, all suggesting that they belong to magical stories of their own. The introductory story, I should probably point out, is utterly false. But it gives some nice context to the images that follow and hopefully kids will still dig them.

If you've ever read "Jumanji" or "Polar Express" then you are familiar with Van Allsburg's style of mysterious eerily realistic drawings. All pictures in this particular book are in black and white, but they each seem just a little too real to be completely fantastical. Some pictures are sublime. There's an especially amusing one that displays a nun flying above two men in what looks to be a cathedral. The title of the print is, "The Seven Chairs" and the accompanying quote reads, "The fifth one ended up in France". Other pictures in the book vary in creepiness and wonder. There's a picture of a man attempting to beat something large under his carpet with a nearby chair. Another illustration a house lifting off into space. Another shows a woman lowering a knife to a pumpkin as it glows like a brightly lit luminary.

The advantage of this book is that as kids page through it, they feel the need to tell the rest of the stories they see presented here. If a kid looks at the picture of a boy being abducted by a ship's captain they may wish to write a tale of adventure and derring-do on the high seas. Consequently, each tale told here can be interpreted a variety of different ways. I don't want to make this book sound as if it's sole purpose is as a method of teaching writing exercises. I just want to point out that it's so lovely a collection of images that I think anyone that reads it will be pleased by what they see. Pleased to the point of extravagant imaginings, in some cases.

Every Chris Van Allsburg book contains some sort of deeply mysterious tone to it. He's the kind of illustrator that causes great love and adoration in his fans. "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" is not your normal run-of-the-mill type picture book. And if you're looking for something to read your five-year-old to sleep with, look elsewhere. You will not find anything here that will interest them. What you will find instead is a book like no other. One of my favorite picture books, even at the grand old age of 26.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The *best* book for creative writers, December 27, 2001

By 

Nicole Alger "imanoonle" (Belmont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Hardcover)

My sixth grade teacher used this book for a creative writing assignment. We were supposed to pick one of the pages and write a story based on Chris Van Allsburg's wonderful illustrations.

Chris Van Allsburg, known to me as the author/illustrator of Jumanji and The Polar Express, outdoes himself in this book. It is a book to get the mind thinking, especially for children. Each illustration has a caption that is supposed to get the mind thinking. A child cannot read this book without formulating a story, perhaps unconsciously, in his mind.

Chris Van Allsburg is a wonderful artist. Each illustration, done in only simple black and white, is so breathtaking that I could stare at them time and again and be amazed at the detail, the realness. The sentence-long captions that go along with each picture even today cause me to dream up a story. It is a terrific book to get a child interested in writing. :)

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST, October 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Hardcover)

For accelerating the imagination of a child, this book works like a magic potion. I am 18 now, and love it as much as I did the first time I read it, at about age 7. Its drawings are magical, and I think the real draw in VanAllsburg's work is that it's a little eerie, too. There are mysteries here (hence the title), and my favorite thing about these fragments is that they are presented as just that-- fragments of a story. They make for excellent creative exercises for children, making up the stories around the pictures and bits of narrative. If you are a parent looking for books for your children, BUY THIS. And even if you are looking for books for yourself, take a look. Relive the magic of your childhood, because this book is begging you to.