The "Solved" Mysteries of Harris Burdick
Chris Van Allsburg came across the pictures of Harris Burdick through a friend, Peter Wenders. Apparently, Burdick presented the pictures with their titles and captions to Wenders in hopes that Wenders would be interested in purchasing the stories that accompanied the illustrations. Wenders was intrigued by the pictures and asked Burdick to submit the corresponding stories the next day. However, Wenders never heard from Harris Burdick again, so the "true" stories behind the pictures were never revealed.
Students have been asked to consider one of the images, its title and its caption and then to propose a possible story that tells what happened before and after the corresponding image.
The images below are "thumbnail" photos. Click on the image you have been assigned in order to get a full-sized picture.
Source: Van Allsburg, Chris, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston: Massachusetts (1984)
Click on a student name below to read his/her Harris Burdick
Mystery Story
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ARCHIE SMITH, BOY WONDER
| UNDER THE RUG
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A STRANGE DAY IN JULY
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MISSING IN VENICE | ANOTHER TIME, ANOTHER PLACE | UNINVITED GUESTS
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THE HARP
| MR. LINDEN'S LIBRARY
| THE SEVEN CHAIRS
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| THE 3RD FLOOR BEDROOM
| JUST DESERT
| CAPTAIN TORY
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OSCAR AND ALPHONSE |
THE HOUSE ON MAPLE STREET
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