Chris Van Allsburg

Twenty-five years ago, Chris Van Allsburg's "Mysteries of Harris Burdick," a series of fourteen intriguing pencil illustrations with captions, said to have been left behind by Burdick, who failed to return the following day with the accompanying stories, was published. In classrooms around the country, industrious teachers and students set about creating the missing stories. Now, in a sort of reverse mentor text, fourteen outstanding authors -- including Gregory Maguire, Lois Lowry, Sherman show more Alexie, Kate DiCamillo, Jon Scieszka, and Cory Doctorow -- take a turn in the author's chair, creating wondrous fantastical stories that match the whimsical darkness of the original illustrations. Don't be deceived by the illustrations -- this is not a picture book for young readers but rather a subtle, sophisticated collection of tales that middle and even high schoolers will relish. Sherman Alexie's plot, for example, shows the cruelty of siblings turning against sibling ... even if the sibling is, well, not so typical. Advanced vocabulary, such as Jules Feiffer's, "Henry viewed the apparition with equanimity," is delicious to devour with older readers. Can a multiply-authored work win a Newbery? I'd love to see this one be considered. Highly recommended. (43) show less

Brilliant picture-book practitioner Chris Van Allsburg - two-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, as well as a Caldecott Honor, for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi - delivers a deliciously spooky reading experience with The Widow's Broom, a book which boasts both an engrossing story, and gorgeous illustrations. "Witches' brooms don't last forever," it begins, proceeding to unfold the story of widow Nina Shaw, who aids the injured witch who crash-lands in her show more field, and is rewarded with the mostly magic-less broom that she leaves behind. Mostly magic-less, but still enchanted, the broom becomes a helper and companion for the lonely widow, assisting her with the chores, and playing the piano for her. Until, that is, the widow's frightened and superstitious neighbors, led by the vindictive and nosy Mr. Spivey, decide that the broom must be the work of the devil...

As with all good stories, The Widow's Broom can be read and understood on a variety of levels, whether it be as a spooky tale of magic, suitable for the Halloween season, or as a meditation on the dangers and futility of superstition, and (implied) religious intolerance. The idea that we often create a world in which our fears are brought to life, through a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy - Mr. Spivey believes that the broom is evil and dangerous, and his sons, having doubtlessly picked up on this idea, persecute the broom, which retaliates in kind, proving that it can be very dangerous indeed - is subtly conveyed in the story, as is the notion that things are rarely as they seem (love that surprise ending!). The illustrations are simply breathtaking: done all in black and white, they have a kind of sepia tone to them, and ably capture the depths of shadow and presence of light, in each scene being depicted. There is a sense of mystery and magic here, that is perfectly suited to the tale at hand. I think my favorite image was of the witch, grasping her billowing cloak, her face turned to the side: so powerful, so frightening and beautiful, all at once!

With a strong story, complete with surprise ending, and beautifully rich artwork, The Widow's Broom is a book I highly recommend: to anyone who is looking for engagingly witchy tales (at Halloween, or any other time of the year), or who is an admirer of Van Allaburg's artwork! show less

On Christmas eve a boy rides a train through the snow from his house to the north pole, where he meets Santa and is chosen out of all the children to receive any gift he wants. He wants one of the reindeer’s bells, so that’s what he gets. The bell is briefly lost due to a hole in the boy’s robe pocket, but it shows up again in a box under his Christmas tree the next morning.

Chris Van Allsburg is one of the greatest children’s book illustrators of all time for good reason. His art is show more vivid and huge and close-up and surreal. I love the big dark steam train in contrast to the stark white falling snow. In this case it is stunning and distracts from, in my opinion, a sentimental flop of a plot. Trains are great, snow is fun, meeting Santa is fine. Santa picking only one of the hundreds of children at the north pole to give a gift to is weird. Isn’t Santa’s whole deal that he gives gifts to every good child? And how convenient that he picks the narrator, someone who only wants a bell. I hope none of the other children were going to ask for a roof over their family’s head, or enough food to eat! Unlucky them. The ending trope of no one else being able to hear the bell because they don’t believe in Santa is my least favorite Christmas trope. Annoyingly saccharine. show less

"Although she was only five, and the youngest of the Bradbury children, Melissa had very sharp eyes, and it wasn't surprising that she was the first to discover that something strange had happened to the house on Maple Street while the Bradbury family was summering in England."

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg actually is a collection of short stories, based on Van Allsburg's drawings in his original book, by popular authors such as Tabitha King, Jon Scieszka, Sherman show more Alexie, Gregory Maguire, Linda Sue Park, Walter Dean Myers, Lois Lowry, Kate DiCamillo, Louis Sachar and Stephen King. The original drawings in Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick supposedly were left by the title character with the publisher to see whether they could be published with the accompanying stories - but he never returned with the stories. So here they are, more than two decades after the original publication.

The drawings are beautiful and eerie, with small details that make one wonder - why is the nun hovering in a chair in that church? Why are vines growing out of that book? Why is there a harp by that beautiful river? They each have titles and cryptic sayings beneath - "The Seven Chairs - The fifth one ended up in France"; "Mr. Linden's Library - He had warned her about the book. Now it was too late"; "The Harp - So it's true, he thought, it's really true." The authors use those titles and phrases as launching points for a wildly varied group of stories.

All are well-written, and of course some grabbed me more than others. I imagine it's one of those books where different readers will come away with different favorites, because there isn't a bad one in the bunch. I found myself enjoying the ones in the latter part of the book the most. Lois Lowry's tale of the chair-flying nun is amusing and well-told. In Stephen King's story excerpted at the beginning of this, he makes sly references to Ray Bradbury and The Monsters of Maple Street, which I believe is a Bradbury story made famous on Twilight Zone, featuring red scare type paranoia and hysteria as the power goes out on Maple Street. The King story turns that inside out - the monster is going unperceived except by the children he's terrorizing. M.T. Anderson masterfully walks us through a glowing pumpkin tale that leaves the boy who wanders out of his neighborhood and the reader questioning what they can believe and what is really beyond their own neighborhood.

It's a fun book, and a pleasure to see how these well-known authors rise to the challenge. show less