The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
Common Sense Note
Only a mysterious title and an ambiguous caption accompany each mesmerizing illustration, but children will be eager to complete the unfinished tales.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Mark Nichol
Chris Van Allsburg is known for his often unsettling tales, from the benign but dreamlike Christmas fable The Polar Express to Jumanji, the eerie tale of a frighteningly realistic board game, and the often phantasmagorical images that accompany them. But here, readers are left with only hints about the stories that surround these graphite-gray images--it's up to readers to craft the tales these puzzling pictures imply.
And what enchanting hints they are! Imaginative children (and their parents) can't resist the urge to script their own interpretations of what happens next. Will the girl who has fallen asleep reading a book wake before the plant growing from it envelops her? What is the turreted structure an odd group of people approach by wind-driven railcar? Why does the sea captain signaling a fog-shrouded sailboat grip the boy's arm so tightly?
Each dreamlike illustration is drawn with a slightly fuzzy quality that nevertheless makes magical use of light and shadow to convey a palpable sense of mystery, and period clothing and other artifacts enhance the classic style of the colorless but lush and subtly shaded drawings.
This volume is a must-have for Van Allsburg's fans, for young writers, and for any child who enjoys the fantastical.
Many images from Van Allsburg's other books, especially The Stranger and The Widow's Broom, could have also appeared in this volume, inspiring readers' tales that might differ dramatically from his.
Plot Summary:
Floating bubbles of light hover over a sleeping boy. A strange lump reappears under the carpet in a man's room. A skipping stone acts like a boomerang. These are just the first few of fourteen exceedingly odd images conjured by children's illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. Children--and adults--can exercise their fancy by wrapping their own story around each one.
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ViolenceA man threatens to strike a hidden form that may be a living thing. Some drawings have an air of vague menace. People--often children--are depicted as participants in strange occurrences. |
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