Fresh Approaches: Telling the Tales of 'Harris Burdick'
RSSBy Joy Fleishhacker
In The Chronicles of Harris Burdick (Houghton Mifflin, 2011; Gr 5-9), a cadre of celebrated authors takes up the challenge, each spinning a tale based on one of the intriguing image/caption combos. The contributors include Jon Scieszka, Gregory Maguire, Walter Dean Meyers, Lois Lowry, Kate DiCamillo, and Louis Sachar, and the result is a spellbinding collection of stories that evoke the mysterious tone of the source material while also incorporating each writer's unique perspective and particular storytelling élan. Margaret Raymo, Senior Executive Editor at Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, provides some perspective about the role Van Allsburg's groundbreaking picture book has played in children's literature: "When The Mysteries of Harris Burdick was published there was nothing else like it and it opened the door for all the picture book innovation that followed...it was after Chris that creators really started exploring the form of the picture book, breaking it out of its traditional storytelling format-artists like David Wiesner, David Macaulay, Lane Smith, Istvan Banyai, and Peter McCarthy (his use of black and white). I think Chris and Harris Burdick also ushered in the idea that it was okay for adults to like picture books; they weren't just for children." And, of course, the book was an instant hit in classrooms: "...it became the creative writing assignment that kids always loved. These aren't your same old boring writing prompts, but prompts that can take your imagination anywhere. Chris has received thousands and thousands of stories by school children over the years." In fact, it was a classroom experience that provided Raymo with inspiration for The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. She explains, "My third-grade daughter's class was doing 'the Harris Burdick creative writing project' so it was the first time I actually saw it in action and saw what a kick the kids got in creating stories to go with the pictures and I thought, what if I got published authors to do this." She pitched the idea to Van Allsburg, who was "immediately enthusiastic" and informed her that Stephen King had already written a story to go with one of the pictures, a tale that was published in an adult short story collection in 1993. "Someone had given Stephen a copy of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick and his wife had made a family project of it, having everyone in the family write a story to go along with a picture. Stephen then wrote Chris to ask him if he could publish his story...and Chris readily gave Stephen his permission. So now I wrote to Stephen to ask him if we could use his story in our collection." An edited version of King's "The House on Maple Street" finishes up the Chronicles, which also includes an offering by Tabitha King. Given free rein (the only guideline was a rough word count), the authors concocted a compendium of tales that represent an array of writing styles and subject matter and range in tone from eerily sinister to whimsically magical to darkly humorous. For example, Sherman Alexie's "A Strange Day in July" introduces two "strangely cruel" twins who get their comeuppance when an evil prank backfires, Linda Sue Park's lyrically told "The Harp" resounds with magical transformations and the power of music, and M. T. Anderson's "Just Desert" presents a pleasingly unnerving account of one boy's astounding Halloween discovery. Raymo comments that she found all of the tales surprising, "...especially the fact that they were all so different from one another and often very different from the kind of writing each author usually published." Though each entry is compellingly unique, the collection is held together by consistently vivid storytelling, a sense of unfettered wonder, and the authors' obvious enthusiasm for interpreting the source material. According to Raymo, these tales, like the original book, share the same "theme of embracing the joy of the unknown, the thought-provoking, the mysterious, the curious, the sublime." How does Raymo envision this collection being used in classrooms? "It would be great to use in conjunction with the first book-teachers can read sample stories to the students (whether before or after the students have completed the creative writing project) to show how varied the response to these pictures can be." She adds that it would also be "thrilling for [kids] to hear what a favorite author can do with the same assignment." For Raymo, the project has come full circle: "Funnily enough, when this book came out in the fall (three years after the original inspiration) my daughter was now in sixth grade, and her teacher started off the year with the Harris Burdick writing assignment! I gave the teacher a copy of the book and he's been reading the stories aloud to the students throughout the year." Book fans and educators can visit HMH's dedicated website, "Who is Harris Burdick?," to delve further into the mysteries. In an entertaining video, Lemony Snicket discusses his theory (postulated in the Chronicle's introduction) about the long-disappeared Harris Burdick's current whereabouts (he is hiding among his "comrades in literature," to whom he distributed the tales he wrote to match the pictures, and these individuals are now pretending to have penned the works themselves), while video clips show reactions to this allegation from the stories' "so-called authors." Kids can click on "Readers' Stories" to browse Harris Burdick-based offerings penned by young writers, or go to "Inspired by Burdick" to read an excerpt of Stephen King's tale, view animations of two of the illustrations, or listen to similarly inspired songs. A "Resources" section includes tips from Van Allsburg for both writers and teachers (to pass along to their students) about authoring their own tales based on the artwork. In addition, teachers will want to check out the educator's guide for The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, which provides book-related activities and projects along with discussion questions for each story. Publication Information VAN ALLSBURG, Chris. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales. illus. by author. Houghton Mifflin. 2011. Tr $24.99. ISBN 978-0-547-54810-4; ebook $24.99. ISBN 978-0-547-67760-6. This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.
February 21, 2012
First published more than 25 years ago, Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Houghton Mifflin, 1984) has stirred many a young imagination with its gallery of 14 enigmatic illustrations, each presented with only a title and delightfully cryptic caption. Whether they have discovered the book independently or as part of a classroom writing project, kids have long enjoyed contemplating the possibilities hidden away in these mystifying scenarios and coming up with stories to fit the clues.
How were the contributors chosen? According to Raymo, she and Van Allsburg sat down and made a "dream list" of authors: "I then had Chris inscribe and autograph a copy of the original book to each potential author and started sending the books out with a letter outlining the project and asking each author if they wanted to participate. The response was immediate and gratifying. The authors were thrilled with the idea of participating-both for the creativity and scope of the project and because the original book itself had meant a lot to them when it came out. I let each author choose the illustration that they wanted to write about which slowed down the process somewhat because it meant I had to approach each author one at a time, have them choose a story, then give the remaining stories as choices for the next author. Lemony Snicket called me up and offered to write a new introduction which was a brilliant idea. From the start Chris said he would take the last story left."
