Customer Reviews

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Portfolio Edition)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A colleague introduced me to the portfolio edition, and it is one of the best finds I have added to my writing program. What makes this edition better than the traditionally-bound book is that you can post each of the 12" x 16" drawings around the classroom and use them as picture prompts for writing. I have my students use the captions as the first line of their stories. So far, this collection has been a hit with every class I've taught. You won't be disappointed!

I am 21 years old and could not be more excited to find this book again! My uncle read to me and my cousins all the time when we were children. This book along with The Polar Express, The Wreck of the Zephyr, and Jumanji became one of our favorites! I had no idea until now that they were all the same author. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick was especially fascinating. Because only pictures with captions are provided we gazed at this book for hours, imagining all the possibilities. I strongly urge parents to buy this book and others by Van Allsburg. I feel that they all encourage reading, and this book in particular encourages the imagination. Though I haven't seen or read his books in years, I still remember them as if I read them yesterday.

This is a different book in so many ways. It is really one that should be placed not only in the children's section of the library, but the adult also. The author gives us a brief explanation as to where the pictures came from (no spoiler here..read it yourself), and then the book begins. Each picture is all Allsburg. Wonderful black and white illustrations done in pencil and, as with his other books, each illustrtion is absolutely captivating and a delight to gaze at or study. Each picture is accompanied by just one line of a story with no explanation other than the picture itself. This is a wonderful book to add to a creative writing class, for any age, contemplate late evenings, or just to enjoy anytime. This work will certainly not hurt a childs imagination and infact can start the day-dreaming going in most adults. I highly recommend this one and highly recommend you add it to your home library.

in third grade i read this book and did what many children do...wrote stories to accompany the fragments in the book. something about the book haunted me and for years i thought about it. but i could never remember the name of it. there really hasn't been a week in my life since i was eight that i didn't try to remember the name...or fumble around with close ones (for awhile i was convinced it was harrison murdock and didn't understand why i couldn't find the book). it has been 13 years now and just today as i was walking through the campus of my university i saw a utility truck with the name "murdock" on it and suddenly it came to me. "not murdock, silly...BURDICK!" i ducked into the nearest library and now here i am...reconnected with one of the most vivid memories of my childhood. my point is, this is a book to tickle the imagination, haunt the spirit, and ignite any child's passion for storytelling. it had a profound effect on me and i plan to share it with my future children...if only i can remember the name!

I was actually introduced to this book as a 17 year old in a creative writing class. It's incredible. The pictures are gorgeous, typical Chris Van Allsburg stuff. It's great for creative exercises for kids and adults. I think the whole class had a great time making up stories to fit the pictures, I know I did, and high school students are certainly not the most willing suspenders of their cynicism, amd disbelief. This is the kind of kids book you like so much, and that is so beautifully done that you're reluctant to actually let the kids touch it.

When I was in 6th grade a brilliant teacher who loved to write would occassionally pull out these gorgeously detailed black and white photos depicting the most bizzare scenes with a line or two about the picture. From that picture and the line we would write a story. Everyone's stories ended up being so different.

I searched high and low to find out what these pictures were and where they were from. They were from the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. They still intrigue and inspire me the way they did when I was a kid. Although now that I have the portfolio I see that there is a story about the mysteries of Harris Burdick, who he was and how he came to draw these pictures. This just added to the fun.

I love these illustrations, I plan to have them all framed and put in my writing room. But if you are perhaps a teacher or parent or mentor who encourages others to write these are extremely inspiring photographs they are approximately 16 inches X 12 inches. These are the original 14 illustrations with a "newly discovered" 15th, They are inside of a large papery-cardboard portfolio.

This was my first introduction to Chris Van Allsburg, and it wasn't until I saw (as an adult) the Polar Express sitting on a bookshelf in a library that I discovered this was the same author and illustrator. Since then I have purchased all have Mr. Van Allsburg's books. This series of illustrations was so meaningful to me I can not begin to describe it.

Lets get a couple of things straight: First, Chris Van Allsberg is a genius; second, Mr Van Allsberg does not write "children's books." I will not elaborate on the first point. You need only to open any two of his books to know that it's true. The first book will blow you away; the second book will persuade you that the first was not a fluke. But as for my second point....

"The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" is proof in point. I LOVE this book. The mysterious, creepy, vaguely sinister pictures; the dangling captions; the POSSIBLITIES opened on every page. It's wonderful! But I've never met a child who, of her or his own volition, could/would spend more than five minutes with it. Oh, I know, my experience runs counter to that of many of my fellow reviewers, but it's true. I guess my wife and I were just blessed with second rate kids who had third rate friends. But that doesn't mean that I don't ENTHUSIASTICALLY RECOMMEND this book. I DO! But the heck with the kids! Buy it for yourself!

Every year I read Chris Van Allsburg books to my class and we do a writing project based on The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. This portfolio edition is truly a treasure as well as a helpful teaching tool. I use the portfolio edition during the writing lesson so that each student can have a copy of one of the illustrations in front of them. The illustrations are wonderful, as they are in all of Chris Van Allsburg's books. This portfolio edition also includes an extra introduction and illustration that are not included in the hardcover book. I recommend this book to teachers or anyone who is a Chris Van Allsburg fan.

Chris van Allsburg, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Houghton Mifflin, 1984)

The copy of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick currently sitting beside me is its twenty-fifth printing since 1984. To put that in perspective, Gone with the Wind, first published in 1936, went through its hundredth printing in 1992. Twenty-five printings is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a childrens' book that is almost without language.

Van Allsburg, after a brief introduction, "presents" fourteen illustrations, each of which has only a title and a caption. Fans of the groundbreaking Twilight Zone magazine, which was at the height of its popularity at the same time as the book's publication, will be remarkably familiar with the general look and feel of the illustrations here; realistic, almost photographic, with one thing (major or minor) out of place in the scene; for example, in the illustration featured on the cover, four children are on a hand-powered railroad cart, except the seesaw has been replaced with a mainmast, and the contraption is in full sail. The railroad tracks jut up out of the sea, with it on either side. The title: "Another Place, Another Time." The caption: "If there was an answer, he'd find it here."

The book does exactly what it's meant to do: the illustrations combined with the paucity of text fire the imagination. The reader wants to create his own stories about these fourteen scenes. Van Allsburg's introduction speaks wryly of the thousands of stories that have been written based on these pictures. Wryly, in any case, in 1984. As I write this, in 2007, I have little doubt that he's quite accurate in his assessment of the situation.

Fantastic. Recommended for permanent inclusion in the libraries of people of all ages. **** ½

This book is genius. Every illustration is a window into another world, another story. Each page is a chance to develop the imagination. I am a teacher; I have already had great stories from my students inspired by Van Allsburg's incredible drawings.