The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

[Moxie]

ARCHIE SMITH, BOY WONDER:



A tiny voice asked, "Is he the one?"

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UNDER THE RUG:



Two weeks passed and it happened again.

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A STRANGE DAY IN JULY:



He threw with all his might, but the third stone came skipping back.


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MISSING IN VENICE:



Even with her mighty engines in reverse, the ocean liner was pulled further and further into the canal.


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ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE:



If there was an answer, he'd find it there.


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UNINVITED GUEST:



His heart was pounding.

He was sure he had seen the doorknob turn.


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THE HARP:



"So it's true" he thought, "it's really true".


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MR. LINDEN'S LIBRARY:



He had warned her about the book.

Now it was too late.


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THE SEVEN CHAIRS:



The fifth one ended up in France.


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THE 3RD FLOOR BEDROOM:



It all began when someone left the window open.


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JUST DESERT:



She lowered the knife and it grew even brighter.


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CAPTAIN TORY:



He swung his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared.


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OSCAR & ALPHONSE:



She knew it was time to send them back.

The caterpillars softly wiggled in her hand, spelling out "goodbye".


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THE HOUSE ON MAPLE STREET:



It was a perfect lift-off.


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[mmeowgrl]

Very cool - what is it?

[Moxie]

These are from "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick", a book by Chris Van Allsburg- the same guy who did "Jumanji" and "The Polar Express". What you see is the entire book, minus the explanation given in the opening foreword. I mentioned it in the post about the "Polar Express" movie coming out next year, too:

The first book I read of his was "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick", which is a collection of fabulous pictures accompanied by a simple title and one line, under the premise that they are snippets of stories written by a man (Harris Burdick), left with a publisher as samples, only for him to never return. Of course, their real intention is to spark the imagination of children, and they did just that for me. We used them in my class as basis for stories of our own.

Someday, I'll actually get myself a copy of the book.