The
Mysteries
of Harris Burdick
The project examining Wordless Picturebooks, which is presented on this
page, was designed by students at Salisbury University on the Eastern Shore
of Maryland. The primary audience for the materials on this page is elementary
school teachers.
These books were chosen by the members of our group because it was a
very easy book with a lot of suspense and opportunities to be creative.
Author/Illustrator
studies
Other popular books written by Chris
Van Allsburg include
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
Two Bad Ants
Bad Day at Riverbend
The Polar Express
Jumanji
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
return to top
Activity
Our group presented this book to a variety of children ages
four to nine years old . We acted out the part of Harris Burdick and the
publisher and then asked the children to be the author of the missing stories.
Here is what they wrote.
The Harp and The Three Bears
One day the tree bears went for a walk in the forest.
There they saw a harp. They were surprised to see it there. The big bear
tried to play the harp. He was too big. The medium bear tried to play the
harp. He was still too big. But the third bear was just the right size,
so he played the harp and all the three bears danced. They had fun. (Sahana
Age 4)
* * * * * * * * *
Missing In Venice
The boat was floating. It was coming through the
water. The building is falling down. This boat sank. The big boat is going
to sink because the building will fall down on it. (Jonathan Age 5)
Under The Rug
The man is mad. He picked up the chair. He is going to throw the chair.
There is a big fat black rat under the rug.
When the man threw the chair it hit the lamp and the
cord and knocked the table onto the rat. The rat's teeth came out. The
rat went SPLAT! And blood went on the carpet.
* * * * * * * * * *
Archie Smith, Boy Wonder
The little girl
was on the block and the boy was trying to put the thing down in the water.
The rock came back.
It
was dark and the boy was asleep and crying. There were two snowballs in
his room. The two snowballs were on his blanket. (Jessica Age 6)
* * * * * * * * *
The Flying House
The house was flying. The house went to the moon.
The people wok up and got dressed. They stayed on the moon. They opened
the door and they were afraid. They thought they were on the ground. They
screamed for help. The spaceship came to help them. They let the people
in the spaceship with them. They took the people to their mom's house.
They gave them a good handshake and the people said, “Thank you.”
The house is still up there and they pushed the house back to earth.
Then they mailed a letter to the space people. The letter said, “I love
you.” Then they drove a car to the airport and they went out for dinner
with their big family. The neighbors clapped their hands. They were proud.
Then they all went to the beach, the circus and ate popcorn at the movies.
Then they went back home to sleep. They were snoring. In the morning they
ate breakfast and washed up and went out again. (Amari Age 7)
* * * * * * * * *
The Magic Pumpkin
It was Halloween and Saria was carving a pumpkin.
The pumpkin was growing, soon the pumpkin was bigger than she was. Then
the pumpkin began to glow. It was time to go to bed, so Saria went to bed.
The next day she pushed it out the door. It started to grow and glow some
more.
The next day the pumpkin
started to talk to Saria. The Saria figured out that the pumpkin was magic.
Saria asked the pumpkin, “If I tell you my wish will you make it come true?”
“Yes”, said
the pumpkin.
So Saria started
telling the pumpkin all of her wishes.
“Wait a minute,”
said the pumpkin, “You can only make three wishes a day.”
So she said,
“1. I live in a palace. 2. I have friends. And 3. I have a computer.”
The next day
she found a picture of flowers. The flowers jumped out of the pot and ran
away. Saria fainted. As she fainted, her house turned into a palace and
she had a computer room, a swimming pool, many floors, and rooms with bathrooms;
a master bedroom, six floors, a chief, a maid and a servant.
Saria became rich, she got
married to a man named Jonathan. They both grew wealthy and made more wishes
and they lived happily ever after.The
End (Allegra Age 8)
* * * * * *
* *
The Third-Floor Bedroom Spell
My Grandmother and I were sitting on the couch,
she was telling me stories about her life where she lived on the third
floor. One day a friend came over and asked to see her room. My Grandmother
said, “sure.” Her friend went to the room and when her friend came out
my grandmother went in. To her surprise the window was open, a cool breeze
was coming through and the birds were coming off of the wall paper. They
were going out of the open window. My grandmother thought her friend did
it so she went over to her house to see but she wasn’t there. Them my grandmother
heard a scream down the street. She hurried over. A bird came in and stole
my diamond necklace. She heard another scream and another and another about
birds stealing valuables. Then she remembered a book for breaking spells.
Maybe that would work, she said to herself. She got it and recited spell
after spell and finally she got to the last one and that worked. Suddenly
she saw all the white birds fly into her bedroom window and on to the wallpaper.
(Pooja Age 9)
return to top
Links
return to top
Return to EDUC 408
