Using the Mysteries of Harris Burdick in the Classroom

                                          

I wanted to start the series with this book because it’s one of my favorites from childhood.  One of the reasons I still enjoy it as an adult is because of its ability to inspire the imagination.

Caldecott-winner Chris Van Allsburg wrote this book nearly 30 years ago, and it’s still a classroom favorite.  You can use this book whenever you want to encourage some creative writing amongst your students.

For those unfamiliar with the book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is about a man who wrote and illustrated stories, delivered samples to an editor, yet never returned.  The editor saved the remnants of these stories, which were then passed on to this book’s author.  The author compiled the fragments of the stories into the book we have today.

The book is full of wonderful, unrelated illustrations on each page, accompanied by a single-sentence excerpt from the story of its mysterious  origin.  Because the elusive Harris Burdick was never found, and never gave the any background on his illustrations, the reader may freely imagine their own story based on the pictures.

The book showcases everything from homes flying like rockets, floating orbs of light entering a sleeping boy’s room, and a vine growing from inside an open book.  Each picture appears like a snapshot from a fantasy story and begs several questions:  what’s going on here?  How did this happen?  What’s the story behind this picture?

There are thousands of potential stories behind each picture, as the author describes on his website.  He still receives stories inspired by the book, all written by readers who breathed life into what he began.  Keeping a copy of the book for extensive, long-term use would be a good idea.  The pictures and (sometimes cryptic) excerpts offer a million possibilities, which is why it’s ideal for the classroom.

·      For classroom use, you can simply introduce the book to the class, read a page, show the picture, and allow students to finish their own story.  Return to the book later and go to the next page for a new story. 

·      You could also leave the book in your writing center and encourage students to peruse the book, find a page that intrigues them, and create their own story based on it. 

·      If you have students who like to write their own stories, or they're experiencing writers’ block, point them to this book for inspiration.

·      Challenge advanced writers to play around with genre or the elements of the story.  For instance, is the picture from a scene at the beginning of the story, or from the end?  Could their story be a poem, historical fiction, science fiction, etc?  Could it be in first or third person?  Could it be a reader’s theater play made almost entirely from dialogue?

·      Finally, you can use van Allsburg’s model with entirely new images and words.  If this book proves anything, it's the power of pictures.  Anytime you find interesting photos or illustrations (other picture books, magazines and calendars would be useful), save them for student stories.  You can encourage students to also be on the lookout for any exciting images, or illustrate their own to share with the class and use for writing stories.

Also, check out these two resources:  Houghton Mifflin's guide to using the book for writing lessons, and the official site for the book, where you can read stories people have submitted as well as submit your own!

A true sense of wonder is sparked by van Allsburg's work.   If you ever want to motivate creative writing, or create fantasy stories with your class, look no further than this book.

-Veronica

Made of Awesome: Weekly Writer Activity

Here’s a great way to add creative writing to your week:  Weekly Reader (another company I quite enjoy) has a Weekly Writer serial writing activity that features some of your students’ favorite authors! 

From the site:

“Each week, the Weekly Writer presents another cliff-hanger. Ideally, the entry leaves readers eager to know what happens next.”

The Weekly Writer entries are composed by some of the most popular, award-winning writers in children’s and young adult literature, such as Walter Dean Myers, R.L. Stine, Lois Lowry, Chris Van Allsburg, and Stephen King.  They write the beginning of a story which culminates in a cliffhanger, and students can read and submit their additions to the story and have them posted on the website for all to enjoy!

Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has written this week’s story.  Imagine your students’ wonder as they contribute to a story written by their favorite authors!

This week’s submission is due by Thursday.  Be sure to check the teacher’s page for tips on how to implement this activity.  Check the site periodically for authors added to its roster and new stories!

Here are a few lesson plan ideas:

1. Weekly Writer could be ideal whether you’re looking for a writing center/station, writing workshop lessons, a long-term creative writing project or an enrichment activity.  Students can read the beginning of the story each week individually, in groups, or as a class.  Then, they can work on the story during the week, edit and fine-tune their ideas, and submit their completed work to Weekly Reader.  The class can also check the serial story’s evolution on the website.  Celebrate as a class if one of your students is chosen to have their work posted on the site!
2. As the website suggests, this activity is great for exploring story elements and author’s craft.
3. After reviewing the stories, have your class start its own serial writing activity.  Over the course of several weeks, students can begin an original story and add to it in installments.  Post the updates on a classroom blog.
4. Read the story beginnings to the class once a week, brainstorm some thoughts as a class, and then assign a daily journal writing activity that allows students to continue their own version of the story.  When the final version of the story is posted, read it together as a class and have students share their work to everyone or small groups.
5. Use Weekly Writer to initiate an author study.  Have students research the authors and read some of the popular novels they’ve written.  You can also have your class research the history of serial writing. The site mentions Charles Dickens, yet there are many other authors who got their start by writing stories in installments.  Encourage your students to find about other authors and stories that use this technique.

-Veronica