The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales / With an Introduction by Lemony Snicket

Here's an amazing Halloween Treat published just this week. AND Amazon has just dropped the price! If you're looking for something VERY special this Halloween Holiday or for something to make EVERY day very special, here it is. And you can share it, MOST of it, with the WHOLE FAMILY! ("Ages 10 and up" is the publisher's recommendation, but you could and should happily share many of the stories by reading aloud to enthralled younger audiences.) AND Amazon will overnight for a reasonable fee. "The MYSTERIES of Harris Burdick"--the original source--which is just the haunting pictures and captions--has long been a truly bewitching favorite of many. Now, "The CHRONICLES . . ." marries new stories by talented authors--inspired by those captivating illustrations--to the included original collection of graphics and taglines. The quality of storytelling is VERY high here. And they vary in tone, and length, and intent (a laugh, smile, shiver, scream, even a little misty-eye here and there) just they way you would want. And the intro by Lemony Snicket is truly inspired and perfect! Don't skip it. Tricks AND Treats aplenty here--for Halloween or ANY day! Great gifts, too. Enjoy! A quick aside: Amazon still has copies of The PORTFOLIO Edition of "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick"--large prints with the captions ON them, perfect for framing. We already have several mounted, matted, and framed in the Living Room, Bedroom, Children's Room, and Library. For Halloween, we also have one on display at the Office. (Yes, the GLOWING pumpkin) We love ALL the "Harris Burdick" books. THIS one is ABSOLUTELY B E W I T C H I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BEST BOOK EVER for encouraging imagination and teaching creative writing! Useful for ages 6 to 100. Adult classes will love it as much as children. 10 star recommendation!!

It’s awesome

My students love hearing alternate stories (they write their own based on the original pictures) written by many of their favorite authors. Great, short read alouds.

If you remember when the book came out orinignally, you'll love the stories created for it.

Chris Van Allsburg is one of the best authors of adolescent literature of our time. The upper elementary age children with whom I work, truly enjoy reading and listening to Van Allsburg's work. His writing is appealing not only to young people, but finds an audience among adults as well. I recommend this book, with its fine audio CD to anyone who considers him/herself to be a reader. The CD helps with clarity, pace, and comprehension. It is a perfect addition to the book.

Harris Burdick has always been an enigma alowing your imagination to discover and re discover what the mysteries truly were. This companion book should be read with caution for once you've read the stories Your view may be permanently changed in how you view the pictures. Please do not be mistaken the stories themselves are craft fully created by so many wonderful authors if you are a fan of Harris Burdick this book is a perfect fit.

The fascination of the original book was filling your imagination with the possibilities as to the tales that would unfold with each illustration. A bunch of people who wrote stuff got together and wrote their interpretations of each story, and man...let me tell you, they're WAYYYYY off from my interpretations and visions as a child. There aren't enough decapitations, exploding nuns, face-eating jack-o lanterns, and Hitler impersonators to fancy my tickle. So if you're my age (79) and grew up with these illustrations, you'll be gravely disappointed that these stories lack these things.

Dead spooky really - I was completely fooled by the story of the publisher and the mysterious writer and thought it was a real story ! The illustrations are so quirky and detailed that the adults and children I shown were hooked and began imagining what the story was behind each one. This is such a valuable tool for encouraging children to think of the story behind the picture that , after explaining this to school, it was adopted to be the catalyst for our creative writing sessions.Imaginations went wild ............

Liked almost all of these stories. Very inspiring for an emerging writer like me, to read these and have fun writing my own. The stories are full of imagination, fast-moving action and twists. Very enjoyable read.

Buen producto

"Who is Harris Burdick?" may not be a relevant question once you flip through the pages of this latest offering from Chris Van Allsburg. It is a gem of a book to have on anyone's bookshelf. Ideally, this book would sit next to the original book of 14 captioned illustrations released under the title, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick , and published in 1984. Many young writers were inspired by enlightened English teachers who presented these drawings in class, and then asked their students to "come up with a story." Here is an example of one caption: UNDER THE RUG -- Two weeks passed and it happened again. The same 14 illustrations from Mysteries appear in Chronicles, now accompanied with writing by esteemed authors such as Gregory Maguire ( Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West ), Jules Feiffer (illustrated The Phantom Tollbooth ), Sherman Alexie ( The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian ), Jon Scieszka ( The Stinky Cheese Man: And Other Fairly Stupid Tales ), and the two Kings -- Stephen and Tabitha are among the 14. There is even a sly appearance by Lemony Snicket. Chris Van Allsburg is said to be intrigued by the question, "What if?" That seems to be the spirit of this book and its predecessor. Critics of this book say that it should have been left as Mysteries and that this Chronicles volume should not have been published at all. However, why not have both and be able to see how published authors tackled the challenge? Indeed, some works are not as good as others, but that can be useful to see. The stories that do work, work very well. "A Strange Day in July" by Alexie, and "Missing in Venice" by Maguire come to mind.

This book is great for sharing in the classroom during a short story unit.