Chris Van Allsburg once said, "It's not the thing that's important to me so much as the feeling the pictures give after you've drawn it. I have a favorite mood I like in my art. I like things to be mysterious."

Join us at the library for "Dreaming with Chris Van Allsburg" all this month.

 

Books

All of Chris Van Allsburg's books are published by Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston.

 

	Bad Day At Riverbend (1995) ISBN 0-395-67347-X Riverbend was a quiet town where nothing exciting ever happened. Even the stage coach never stopped there; it just rolled through town. But one day, the stage coach stopped. Something was terribly wrong in Riverbend.
	The Sweetest Fig (1994) ISBN 0-395-67346-1 "These figs are very special," the woman whispered." They can make dreams come true.
	The Widow's Broom (1992) ISBN 0-395-64051-2 "It's dangerous," they say. "It's a wicked, wicked thing."
	The Wretched Stone (1991) ISBN 0-395-53307-4 There is something terribly wrong on the Rita Anne. Her crew no longer speaks and they walk "stooped over." "At night, shrieks can be heard coming from the forward hold."
	Just A Dream (1990) ISBN 0-395-53308-2 Walter's neighbour receives a tree for her birthday. A useless gifts in Walter's eyes. Walter loves technology and he believes in a future full of wonderful inventions such as robots. He falls asleep and dreams of this wonderful future, but it is not as wonderful as he thought it would be.
	Two Bad Ants (1988) ISBN 0-395-48668-8 Two ants go with a group of fellow ants to find "marvelous crystal(s)" for their queen. They find these crystals, and the group heads back to their queen. All except "two bad ants" who decide to stay and explore this new and fascinating world that contains such marvels as the crystals. They did not know what trouble they were getting into...
	The Z Was Zapped (1987) ISBN 0-395-44612-0 The Alphabet Theatre proudly presents their new production, "The Z Was Zapped." It is a production that took untold sacrifice to bring to the stage.
	The Stranger (1986) ISBN 0-395-42331-7 Farmer Bailey hits an unusual stranger with his truck. The man has no memory so Farmer Bailey takes him home to help him recover from the accident. The man does not regain his memory but he starts to become a part of the family then odd things start happening around the farm...
	The Polar Express (1985) ISBN 0-395-38949-6 A boy goes on an unforgettable journey when, on Christmas Eve, he boards the Polar Express to the North Pole.
	The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (1984) ISBN -0395-82784-1 (1996 Portfolio edition) Chris Van Allsburg discovers fourteen "mysterious" drawings in the home of Peter Wenders. .
	The Wreck of the Zephyr (1983) ISBN 0-395- A small sailboat lies wrecked on a cliff's edge. Some say a wave just carried it up there, but the cliff is really quite high. How did the boat really get up there? And whose boat was it?
	Ben's Dream (1982) ISBN 0-395-32084-4 Ben is studying geography as he falls asleep one night. All of a sudden a flood shakes his house, and the house is set adrift on a journey that takes him around the world.
	Jumanji (1981) ISBN 0-395-30448-2 Peter and Judy find an ordinary-looking board game. They are quite bored at home so they decide to play this game that they have found. A game called Jumanji which is not as boring as they thought...
	The Garden of Abdul Gasazi (1979) ISBN 0-395-27804-X Alan Mitz is taking care of Miss Hester's dog, Fritz, when the dog wanders into the garden of Abdul Gasazi. Abdul Gasazi is a retired magician, and he does NOT like dogs...

 

 

Help Find Fritz

Have you seen this dog? Poor Fritz has become lost in the books of Chris Van Allsburg. You can help find this poor wandering soul by filling out the contest ballot at the library. Just write down the number of the page where you saw Fritz in each of Van Allsburg's books. Your entry will then be put into a draw for a fabulous prize and if you have all the correct page numbers you could be our winner. Help us find Fritz!

*Hint: Go to the Eduplace website to learn more about Fritz, and get a hint to where he is hiding in one of the books.

 

Solving "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick"

Coming soon!

 

Links

The Official Chris Van Allsburg Website contains information on Van Allsburg including video clips of interviews, coloring pages, bookmarks, news, contact information, and more.

Teaching Point of View with Two Bad Ants is a lesson for grades 3-5 that comes from Read, Write, Think. The lesson includes printable resources as well as assessment rubrics and related links.

QUIA: The Z Was Zapped activities: matching, concentration, or word search activities. Discover the many horrible ways in which the poor letters of the alphabet were treated in this book.

Eduplace: Author Spotlight: Chris Van Allsburg. Find out more about the author and his books at this site.

Scholastic: Online Biography: Chris Van Allsburg. Learn more about Van Allsburg from this biography from Scholastic.

Education Place: Meet Chris Van Allsburg lets you learn a little about the author as well.

Houghton Mifflin Books: The World of Chris Van Allsburg. This site lets you listen to some audio excerpts from Van Allsburg's books, as well as read his acceptance speeches for the Caldecott Medal.

 

For Teachers

This is a 1 month promotional activity that is targeted at the whole school. There are a variety of activities for each grade. An outline for Dreaming with Chris Van Allsburg is available - feel free to use and modify it as you wish but I would like to know if you used any of my ideas and how they turned out.