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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