Everyone needs a good mystery once in a while. If everything were predictable all of the time, how boring life would be!
You don't have to play the game, Clue, to solve a good mystery. You can turn to a book! Even picture book authors can be mysterious, and the one children's author I know who fits this description is Chris Van Allsburg.
This author is most well-known for the books, Jumanji, Zathura, and The Polar Express. All of these picture books were so popular that they were made into movies. But it's a lesser known book by this author that is often used by teachers to inspire creative writing in children between the ages of 9 and 12.
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is truly a one-of-a-kind book. Actually, it's more a collection of illustrations. But it's not your typical wordless book. And the illustrations don't have any connection to each other.
The source of these illustrations is a mystery in and of themselves, as you will read in the introduction. Each one is accompanied by a title and a caption, but that is all. It's up to the reader to fill in the blanks.
One of the best lessons I ever did involved the use of this book and mystery boxes which contained unusual objects from my grandmother's attic (or so they thought...). Children of all ages love to guess what kind of object is concealed in a box or a bag. It's a great way to spark interest.
My 4th grade students had to select one mysterious photo from Chris Van Allsburg's book and use it, along with the mystery object I revealed to them, in order to write a most unusual story. They had to bring the object and the illustration to life.
This was not a simple, one day project. My students worked on this project for a few weeks. They learned how to use descriptive words to write a first draft, and then how to proofread and revise their work. It was not easy, but boy, was I amazed at the results!
These children were extremely motivated, and came up with some amazing twists in their stories. Students who normally would put minimal effort in were suddenly focused to do their best work. I don't know who enjoyed this experience more - them or me!
So, whether you are home schooling your child, or you just want to keep her writing this summer, I'd highly recommend the use of this book, along with some props. Your child could even pick his own mysterious objects, preferably out of a basement or attic!
According to Amazon.com, there is a new web site coming out on or around October 28th, which will "encourage the use of pictures to seed creative writing assignments." It sounds interesting!
Oh, and by the way, it you'd like to keep your younger child (5 and up) writing this summer, you can find out about a great online resource, called My Story Maker, at The Book Chook blog.
What's your favorite Chris Van Allsburg book? I'll mention more of them in the next couple of weeks.
