The Mysteries of Harris Burdick A Creative Writing Activity in the Intermediate Classroom

Who wrote it?

Chris Van Allsburg, American author, illustrator and artist. He has won many awards for his work which includes The Polar Express, Jumanji, The Stranger, Two Bad Ants, Ben’s Dream, etc. He lives near Boston.

"The idea of the extraordinary happening in the context of the ordinary is what's fascinating to me."

What is it about?

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is based on the premise that the author found this collection of pictures at a retired children’s book publisher’s house, Peter Wenders.

A collection of 14 images with intriguing titles and a one sentence caption for each…

Viewing Images…

  In written stories, the details are in words

  In picture books, graphic novels and comics, the descriptions and details are in the images as well

  The information that is given to the viewer is as important as what is left out of the image

In viewing images, readers

infer meaning from…   the gestures and expressions of characters

  background

colours or lack of

  what the author/illustrator has chosen to leave out

  placement of panels and gutters

  captions

  word balloons/thought bubbles

  motion lines

  sound effects

What to know before this activity…

  Students understand the simple, common elements of the short story…characters, plot, setting

  Do not read the titles and captions for each illustration

Group Activity…create a story for your image

  5 or 6 students per group

  Look carefully at your group’s image

  Find 5 details in the image that give the reader information about the character(s) and the setting

  Make notes or circle these on the page

  Create a title and caption for your image

  Share your findings with the class

Giving meaning to your image…

  Write a simple dialogue

  Decide where to stick the speech/thought bubbles

  Continue your story on the next panel…

Follow up activities…

  Read The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, paying attention to character, plot and setting

  Writer’s Workshops - students write their own stories participating in pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing (peer/teacher conferencing)

  Art – create a mysterious scene (using pencil/shading techniques, paint and/or collage) complete with title and caption

Merits

  Promotes observation, qustioning and inferring

  Interdisciplinary potential

  Appeals to both elementary and high-school classrooms

  Inspires creativity & fuels imagination…fun!(Halloween)

Challenges…

  May be too intense or frightening for some students

Just Desert She lowered the knife and

it grew even brighter.

to…

The Ivitation Arrives It isn’t easy carving a carriage.

Challenges…

  The amount of creativity and fantasy may be intimidating for some in the class (Story Cubes)

Links & Resources…   YouTube video of C. V. Allsburg’s interview about The Mysteries of Harris Burdick…

https://youtu.be/NHmKjqRZlbw

  Five week (110 pages) Intermediate Inference-based Language Arts Unit on C. V. Allsburg’s The Wretched Stone, The Garden of Abdul Gazasi, The Stranger, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Just a Dream, The Polar Express, and The Sweetest Fig. (Includes assessment rubrics)…

http://amykincaidlibrarian.edublogs.org/files/2015/02/1076-Inferring-with-Chris-Van-Allsburg-A-Unit-Plan-11rvigl.pdf

  The Harris Burdick Project – telecollaborative project

http://harrisburdickproject.weebly.com/index.html

  Collaborative creative writing project involving classes around the world. Students worked together to via Google docs, Skype email to create original stories based on The Mysteries Harris Burdick…

http://classroombooktalk.wikispaces.com/Mysteries+of+Harris+Burdick

Links & Resources   C. V. Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick website where students can

submit their own stories inspired by the book. Winners are published each month on the site and receive prizes…

http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/harrisburdick/introduction.html

  C.V. Allsburg’s website through Houghton Mifflin includes discussion guides and teacher’s guides (in PDF format) of all his books

http://hmhbooks.com/chrisvanallsburg/books.html

  Discussion questions & activities based on The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

http://www.randomhouse.com.au/content/teachers/chroniclesofharrisburdickreadingnotes.pdf