The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

"The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" (1984) is a picture book by the American author Chris Van Allsburg consisting of a series of unrelated, highly detailed images in the author's distinctive style. Each image is accompanied by a title and a single line of text, which compel readers to create their own stories.

A fictional editor's note tells of an encounter with an author/illustrator named Harris Burdick, who provided the images and captions as samples, each from a different picture book he had written. He left with a promise to deliver the complete manuscripts if the editor chose to buy the books. Burdick was never seen again, and the samples are all that remain of his supposed books. Readers are challenged to imagine their own stories based on the images in the book.

The image/title/caption pairings all suggest stories that are magical or fantastical and range from sinister to intriguing to whimsical. The book is sometimes used in schools as a springboard for creative writing exercises.

The book is available in a Portfolio Edition which includes another image/caption pair from the story "Missing in Venice".

Influence

The short story "The House On Maple Street" which appears in Stephen King's "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" is inspired by the last image/caption in "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick".

External links

* [http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com The official site] - Has a section where readers can write their own stories for the pictures. Winners get a copy of the Portfolio Edition of the book.