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A review by spiffysarahruby
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales by Chris Van Allsburg
5.0
I came across this book while looking for a book club book for the adult literacy program I work for. The reading level and book length are on spot--I think this could be a good choice, although it would probably make a good book for October which has already passed. This book is essentially a companion book to "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" which is a book with pictures, their titles, and short captions, and the reader is left to imagine the stories that the pictures go with. THIS book gives the readers stories to go with those images, all penned by famous authors; Sherman Alexie, Lois Lowry, and Stephen King to name a few.
The work of Chris Van Allsburg is unmistakable and all the images in this book, pulled from "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick," manage to be both serene and bizarre all at the same time. My favorite images were:
1) The Seven Chairs
2) Another Place, Another Time
3) The House on Maple Street
The accompanying stories to the images are equally bizarre (hence, my thought that the book would make a better October book club selection). My favorite stories were:
1) Just Desert
2) Another Place, Another Time
3) Under the Rug
I already have a fondness for anthologies and expected to like this book. While I did end up liking the book a great deal, I have to say this book really surprised me. Granted, the illustrations are strange and it's probably stupid that I didn't expect the stories to be just as strange or even disturbing, but I really didn't--and they totally were! This book is put in the children's section of my library and I can't help but wonder if kids could really, truly appreciate the nature of stories like this. Probably a dumb thing to think, but my experience with kids is a bit limited, and I was reading this with the adult learners in our program in mind anyway. I actually think this book would provide a much-needed, healthy stretch of the imagination for our book club participants! I will definitely keep this one in mind as a future book club selection.
The work of Chris Van Allsburg is unmistakable and all the images in this book, pulled from "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick," manage to be both serene and bizarre all at the same time. My favorite images were:
1) The Seven Chairs
2) Another Place, Another Time
3) The House on Maple Street
The accompanying stories to the images are equally bizarre (hence, my thought that the book would make a better October book club selection). My favorite stories were:
1) Just Desert
2) Another Place, Another Time
3) Under the Rug
I already have a fondness for anthologies and expected to like this book. While I did end up liking the book a great deal, I have to say this book really surprised me. Granted, the illustrations are strange and it's probably stupid that I didn't expect the stories to be just as strange or even disturbing, but I really didn't--and they totally were! This book is put in the children's section of my library and I can't help but wonder if kids could really, truly appreciate the nature of stories like this. Probably a dumb thing to think, but my experience with kids is a bit limited, and I was reading this with the adult learners in our program in mind anyway. I actually think this book would provide a much-needed, healthy stretch of the imagination for our book club participants! I will definitely keep this one in mind as a future book club selection.