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  • The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales
  • Karen Coats
Van Allsburg, Chris . The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales; illus. by Chris Van Allsburg. Houghton, 2011. 202p. ISBN 978-0-547-54810-4 $24.99 R Gr. 4-7.

For twenty-five years, Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (BCCB 9/84) has been sparking the imaginations of young writers who find themselves [End Page 226] inspired by the fourteen evocative images and their accompanying captions. Now fourteen award-winning authors have taken up the challenge to write their own stories inspired by the pictures. After a witty introduction by Lemony Snicket, literary luminaries such as Stephen King, Sherman Alexie, Kate DiCamillo, and Walter Dean Myers ply their trade with dexterity and skill. Interestingly, their stories never seem to attempt any sort of definitive take on their chosen illustrations—perhaps it is the richness of the illustrations themselves that leave plenty of room for continued speculation beyond these particular, idiosyncratic versions of what the picture might be about. Tabitha King, for instance, uses the clue of a baseball bat perched against an open window to find the thread for her tale but ignores the sailboat on the wall. Cory Doctorow pursues his own thematic ends in suggesting multiple universes that aren't pictured in the illustration of a handcart crossing a body of water with four children under sail; similarly, Jules Feiffer considers the aging and ultimate death of a children's book author through the inciting picture of a door in a basement. Overall, the authors use the pictures and their captions as mere jumping-off places for richly imagined stories peopled with intriguing characters moving through thoughtful plot arcs. Like the pictures themselves, then, this set of stories will be more inspirational than definitive, starting more conversations and opening more possibilities than they close. Well done, all.

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