the mysteries of harris burdick. written by chris van allsburg what else did he write??
TRANSCRIPT
THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK
THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK
Written by Chris Van
Allsburg
What else did he
write??
ALSO WRITTEN BY ALLSBURG…
Jumanji
Zathura
Polar Express
HARRIS BURDICKWhen Chris Van Allsburg was invited to the home of Peter
Wenders, he discovered fourteen drawings that were, like pieces of
a picture puzzle, clues to larger pictures. But the puzzles, the
mysteries, presented by these drawings, are not what we are used
to. They are not solved for us, as the final pages of a book or a film's
last reel. The solutions to these mysteries lie in a place at once
closer to hand, yet far more remote. They lie in our imagination. For
those who have thought of themselves as unimaginative, this book
will prove the opposite. Even the most reluctant imagination, when
confronted by these drawings, will not be able to resist solving the
mysteries of Harris Burdick.
Introduction: I first saw the drawings in this book a year ago, in the home of a man named
Peter Wenders. Though Mr. Wenders is retired now, he once worked for a children’s book
publisher, choosing the stories and pictures that would be turned into books. Thirty years ago a
man called at Peter Wenders’s office, introducing himself as Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick
explained that he had written fourteen stories and had drawn many pictures for each one. He’d
brought with him just one drawing from each story, to see if Mr. Wenders liked his work. Peter
Wenders was fascinated by the drawings. He told Burdick he would like to read the stories that
went with them as soon as possible. The artist agreed to bring the stories the next morning. He
left the fourteen drawings with Wenders. But he did not return the next day. Or the day after
that. Harris Burdick was never heard from again. Over the years, Wenders tried to find out who
Burdick was and what had happened to him, but he discovered nothing. To this day Harris
Burdick remains a complete mystery. His disappearance is not the only mystery left behind. What
were the stories that went with these drawings? There are some clues. Burdick had written a
title and caption for each picture. When I told Peter Wenders how difficult it was to look at the
drawings and their captions without imagining a story, he smiled and left the room. He returned
with a dust-covered cardboard box. Inside were dozens of stories, all inspired by the Burdick
drawings. They’d been written years ago by Wenders’s children and their friends. I spent the rest
of my visit reading these stories. They were remarkable, some bizarre, some funny, some
downright scary. In the hope that other children will be inspired by them, the Burdick drawings
are reproduced here for the first time.
GALLERY WALK
Around the room are images from The Mysteries of
Harris Burdick
In order to select the image that you would like to
write on you first need to take a look at all of them!
Take your notebook with you as you walk around and
jot down which images interest you the most. When you
have looked at all of the options and selected the two
that interest you the most return to your seat.
YOUR OWN MYSTERY
Now that you have selected an image
to work from, brainstorm ideas for how
you might create a short story around
the mysterious image you selected.
The work you do today will serve as
your pre-writing for a short story based
on The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
THE THIRD-FLOOR
BEDROOM"IT ALL BEGAN
WHEN SOMEONE LEFT
THE WINDOW OPEN."
AN EXAMPLE…BY ME!David and Sarah were each tucked in by their mother and father thoroughly. They smiled their
bedtime smiles, melted into exhausted grins by the day’s vigorous play. Then Mother and
Father left their beloved children with a “Good night” and a Good Night Kiss, and descended
the stairs.
David’s room was across the hall from Sarah’s, yet David could still hear the wind whistling
through the fluttering curtains like a stork flapping its wings. The breeze was a slow, constant
flow of coolness, which was a wonderful climax to the active day the Jacobson children had. But
before the children could bask any further in the cool breeze, a sound, much like a low grinding
or humming, began to emit from the backyard. This sound floated in through Sarah’s window,
along with masses of flailing, fluttering, flapping flocks of pure white doves. They all seemed to
collide with the wall. At first, Sarah thought they would all fall to the ground, but gradually the
wall seemed to absorb the birds, except for one solitary wing.
Of course, the children awoke to discover they both had the exact same dream...
Mysteries of Harris Burdick Video• An interpretation of the images
JOURNAL…