The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

Written and Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg (1984)

This book is a collection of pictures that have been given titles and extremely brief descriptions. The introduction of this book explains that these drawings are the work of Harris Burdick and they were given to Pete Wenders, a man that worked for a children's book publishing company, Burdick was never seen again. I really liked this book, it almost read like a wordless picture book. As a reader you are able to make up your own story for each individual illustrations or you can create a story that combines all of the illustrations. The illustrations in this book are really good as well, which I am realizing is a big draw for me as a reader.

The book is illustrated in black and white, which for provided a feeling of eeriness with every picture in the book. So, this book is a great book to use when talking about how illustrators use illustrations to create mood. I think this book could be used with students of all ages, having them either write stories for the individual illustrations or for the older students, creating the added difficulty of creating one huge story combining each picture. Even though this book is not a wordless picture book, it could be treated as one and a discussion could follow about how pictures can guide interpretation. The creativity involved in reading a book like this is something that should be included in the classroom and would be a useful tool for teachers.