The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg
Ask students, “Has something ever happened to you that seemed unbelievable? What makes an event believable?” Show one of the pictures from the book. “What do you see in this picture? What might be happening in this picture?” Continue discussion as long as needed. Next divide students in groups of 3-5. Ask students to pick one image from the book that stimulates their imagination. Next ask students to create the image from the book using their bodies. Have each group show their frozen images to the group and allow classmates to comment on each other’s work. Next, ask individual groups to brainstorm what happened before and after their picture. Have each group create two pictures before and two pictures after the original picture. As groups are creating their pictures, you may want to walk around and encourage students to title each one. Finally ask each group to share their pictures with the class.
- What did we do in this activity?
- What did you notice about yourself during this process?
- What elements from the original image influenced your beginning and ending tableaux?
When sharing the pictures, encourage the observers to discuss the pictures rather than guess what is going on.
Students may find it helpful to brainstorm ideas on paper to create a story before starting their additional pictures.
Ask one student in each group to direct each picture. You may want to ask groups to change directors for each picture.
Language Arts- Have students write a story based on one of the series of pictures created in the class.
Visual Arts- Connect this work to surrealist painters like Dali or Magritte. Discuss composition, surrealism, and absurdism.