The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

I originally bought The Mysteries of Harris Burdick to use during a KS2 teaching interview, and it exceeded my expectations. Since then, it has become a regular feature in my KS2 classroom, and I even know colleagues who have successfully used it with KS1 children. Although it’s primarily a picture book, each illustration is paired with a simple title and caption that sparks curiosity. The images are mysterious and invite children—and adults—to imagine the stories behind them. While a few illustrations might feel slightly eerie to some younger pupils, the older children I’ve worked with find them intriguing and love using them as inspiration for imaginative writing. Overall, it’s a great stimulus for storytelling and a fantastic resource for the classroom.

This is an excellent collection of pencil drawings that the mysterious Harris Burdick left at a publishers. The captions that accompany the images are equally intriguing. As a teacher, they are a great stimulus for creative writing - used with both KS1 and KS2 students. On a side note - I'm sure Chris Van Allen has visited Scarborough, a seaside town in North Yorkshire.

Great book to inspire children’s imaginations and creative writing

Came across this book a while ago and have been after a copy for a while. This particular item is the portfolio edition, in other words roughly A3 sized pictures on cardboard with a mysterious caption for each one underneath. The drawings are superb and each caption makes you ask all sorts of questions, sparking off a million thoughts in your imagination as to what the story could be. A truly fantastic resource for teachers as a writing stimulus for children in KS2, and the good thing about these is that you can trim half a centimetre of each side and laminate them in A3 pouches to keep them looking really excellent. I've used them several times already and the children love them and find them really helpful in giving them ideas of what to write about. This is so excellent I'm even contemplating buying a second set and getting each one framed!

Just the title made me want to buy this, and I am not disappointed. The pictures are amazing- you keep finding things to 'spot'. I bought this without knowing anything about the author and am now hooked. I am using it to generate story ideas for children in school. A fantastic book to 'read' with a child , even though there are no words as whilst they are describing the drawings and telling you ideas they are , in effect, telling you a story. A little bit creepy and sinister too which keeps the older children interested !

14 different stories that you can use as a springboard for your own stories, or use them all together to write one fully illustrated one. Drama, talk, thought and writing will all be inspired by this book-really beautiful illustrations.

This is an intriguing picture book for an older child or adult. I have the portfolio edition and every picture would be worth framing but where it really comes into its own is as a teaching resource. I'm a supply teacher and this book has already become an essential part of my supply bag. The pictures, titles and captions inspire wonderful speaking and listening,imaginative thought and sensitive art work. My pupils love working with this book and so do I. If I had one class full time I think we could base and entire half-terms' literacy, art, DT and music on this book and never get bored. Children today often find it difficult to relax and use their imaginations (too much tv, too many computer games, too worried about wrong answers)but this book inspires them.

An excellent resource for helping children cultivate creative writing! I use it for my English classes and they love it so much that I even bought one for my niece!

What amazing illustrations... I love that the children are supposed to imagine and develop the story

とてもたくさんの不思議なものがたりが広がっている。それがどんなものがたりなのかは、決まっていない。100人の読者がいれば、100通りのものがたりがあるだろう。そんな絵本。この絵本に触発されてほんものの作家たちがトリビュートの小説集をつくったと聴く。でもそれは作家だけの特権ではない。この絵本を開く人ならだれでも、じぶんだけのものがたりを紡げばいいのだ。

I've been a long-time fan of Chris Van Allsburg's works, and have been sharing his books with my first grader. This is one of our favorites, as each browsing gives us a chance to come up with our own storyline and enables our imaginations to take flight. The book contains fourteen pictures, with captions attached to each. Now these are not ordinary pictures, but feature something out of the ordinary, with equally mysterious captions that make one wonder at the various possibilities for a story! For example, one of my favorite pictures features a young girl sound asleep with a vine creeping out of a book with the title "Mr. Linden's Library" and the caption "He had warned her about the book. Now it was too late." I confess that my imagination took a macabre turn here! My first grader on the other hand imagined something along the lines of Jack (or Jill in this case) and the Beanstalk with the girl waking up and finding a tree growing in her room and going off on an adventure not unlike Jack/Jill. I've also used this book with my students, and they absolutely love the chance to create a story and come up with their own interpretations. Another charm of this book is that the pictures can be used to imagine stories of various genres such as science fiction, horror, mystery, adventure, fantasy, etc. This is a treasure trove of ideas, a great educational resource, and a wonderful way to keep one's brain meaningfully engaged!

Fabulous pictures. Evokes imagination, storytelling, invites child’s perspectives and interactive dialogue. This book is never the same story twice.

I love that book I used it for literature circles.