Top 100 Picture Books #50: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

#50 The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg (1984)
38 points

This is such a great mysterious book. I love sharing this book with a group of students who think they have it all figured out. This book never fails to stop them in their tracks. After we read it, they always have a ton of questions about Mr. Burdick. There are always kids who want to write about one of the pictures included in the book. I, of course, am always happy to let them do, just that. : ) – Amy Miele

Yes, it’s better than Jumanji. – Hotspur Closser

Better than Jumanji (I concur) and I suspect its first-time placement on this list owes not a little debt to the recent The Chronicles of Harris Burdick last year.  After all, it never made an appearance on our last poll and now it debuts halfway up!  None too shabby.

The Wikipedia description of the book reads, “A fictional editor’s note tells of an encounter between a children’s book editor named Peter Wenders and an author and illustrator named Harris Burdick, who says he has 14 stories that he has written; he has brought one picture from each story with a caption. He leaves with a promise to deliver the complete manuscripts if the editor chooses to buy the books. The next day, Burdick didn’t show up. Burdick never returned to Wenders’ office. Over the years, Wenders tried to find out who Harris Burdick was, but he never found out. Burdick was never seen again, and the samples are all that remain of his supposed books. Readers are challenged to imagine their own stories based on the images in the book.”

Van Allsburg’s origin story actually involves the image in the book of the man attempting to bash a lumpy something under his rug.  When Chris was first starting out his wife took his work to New York to see various publishers.  Then she went to Boston where she met Walter Lorraine.  Lorraine took one look at the image and said “If he can get this much storytelling content into one piece of art, I know he can create a children’s book.”  So Chris got the contract, as we learn in Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children.

I’ve often said that I think it says something about a person when they name their favorite Maurice Sendak book.  Well the same certainly goes for Chris Van Allsburg.  What does it say about a person if The Polar Express is their favorite?  What about The Stranger (that’s mine)?  Or The Sweetest Fig?  Gotta watch out for those Sweetest Fig fans.  They’re trouble.  In any case, loving this book makes perfect sense and is practical to boot.  It combines the eerie Twilight Zone qualities fond in many of Van Allsburg’s books with the hint of future tales.  Little wonder that The Chronicles of Harris Burdick was as big a hit as it was (ten copies are currently checked out of my own library system).

• A musical based on the book?  Don’t be quick to scoff.  It’s out there.
• There’s a nice section on Van Allsburg’s website where stories written by kids are posted for one and all to see.  Best of all any kid can submit their own?
• Some animators had their own ideas of what happens in the pictures.  Check out their animations here.
• Here’s an Educator Guide for the book.
• Here are tips for teachers.
• Here are tips for writers.
• Tons of videos abound about the book right here!

Hear Mr. Van Allsburg talk about the book.

And here’s one of the songs from the musical.  It’s called “Under the Rug”.

Filed under: Best Books, Top 100 Picture Books Poll