Chris Van Allsburg

At first, I see pictures of a story in my mind. Then creating the story comes from asking questions of myself. I guess you might call it the 'what if - what then' approach to writing and illustration. I write for what's left of the eight-year-old still rattling around inside my head.

June 18, 1949 -

Biography
Born in Grand Rapids, MI. Son of Christiansen and Richard Van Allsburg. When Chris was born in 1949, his family lived in an old house that looked like the one in Virginia Lee Burtons story. The second time his family moved, his family lived in a Tudor Style house on a street that resembled the street on the cover of The Polar Express. Chris attended junior and senior high in East Grand Rapids. He was not interested in art at this time. He was more interested in science and math. He had not chosen a college, so an admissions officer came to his home in 1967. Chris decided to take Architecture and Design. His transcripts revealed that he hadnt taken any art in high school so he told the officer that he was so advanced in art that he received private lessons on Saturdays. (This of course, was not true.) When the admissions officer asked Chris how he felt about Norman Rockwell, his answer must have delighted him because he signed Chris up and he officially became an art student.

Norman Rockwell, Triple Self-Portrait

Biography
Attended the University of Michigan

in 1967 where he majored in sculpture. Graduated in 1972. He then attended graduate school at Rhode Island School of Design and continued studying sculpture. Van Allsburg married Lisa Morrison in 1975 (he met her 4 years prior at UM where she was also an art student).
He drew pictures at night that he

Titanic Sinking-Bronze- 28 L x 11 W 12 H - 1971

didnt believe were important. Two were shown by Alan Stone to a curator from The Whitney Museum of Art in 1978 and were exhibited. Lisa showed Chris drawings to editor Walter Lorraine at Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston. He encouraged Van Allsburg to think about his own stories for his drawings.

Obelisk in a Strong Wind Wood 9 L x 10 W x 36 H 1977

Honors & Awards

Chris still made sculptures, but in

his spare time, his first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi was published in 1979.
In 1980, Van Allsburg won the

Caldecott Honor Medal for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.

He has since written and

illustrated 17 more of his own books and has illustrated books for other authors as well. In 1991, his first daughter, Sophia was born. His second daughter Anna was born in 1995.
He has won Caldecott Medals for

Jumanji (1982)and The Polar Express (1986)and was the recipient of the Boston Globe Honor Book Award for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. (1980)
Chris also received the Boston

Globe Honor Book Award for The Polar Express (1986)and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. (1985)

Honors & Awards

Van Allsburg has received the

Regina Medal for a lifetime achievement in childrens literature. (1993)

The National Book Award was given

to Jumanji in 1982.
Chris and his wife, Lisa, express

support for art and design students at the University of Michigan. He and Lisa, co-founder of forgottenjudaica.com, alumni together to support students. There is now a Van Allsburg scholarship Challenge. They will match donor support for Architecture and Design scholarships.

Chris and Lisa Van Allsburgs latest gift supports students of the visual arts at The University of Michigan.

Books Adapted to Film

Some of Van Allsburgs books have

been adapted to film, including Jumanji (1995), The Polar Express (2004), and Zathura (2005).
The Widows Broom and The

Sweetest Fig are also in development for film.

Chris Van Allsburgs Styles

Chris uses third person writing. Most of his
books are probably directed toward children in second to fourth grade. Adults can enjoy his books as well, especially The Polar Express. Some of his genres include modern fantasy such as Zathura, Probuditi!, and Jumanji. Another genre includes fantasy such as Just a Dream and The Polar Express. His books are easy to read as they flow with descriptive words (A firefly passed overhead that, for an instant, lit up the woods with a blinding flash of blue-green light. Excerpt from Two Bad Ants.) Some of his books have an issue to deal with as well, such as Just a Dream, when Walter believes the future will have tiny planes, robots to take out trash, and machines to make jelly doughnuts. Since Walter doesnt recycle or care where he throws trash, he dreams of a different kind of future Chris illustrations come alive on the pages they seem so real. The Polar Express is beautifully illustrated in color as well as The Stranger. Some of his books are illustrated in black and white like Zathura and Bens Dream.
Illustration from The Stranger

Chris literary strengths include : Fiction, fantasy Fiction, modern fantasy Fiction, realism historical fiction (Queen of the Falls 2011)

illustration from The Polar Express

Two pages from Zathura

Chris Van Allsburgs Works in the Classroom

The Polar Express can be used in the classroom as a reading lesson in simile and metaphor. (Third grade) Have students work in partnerships. Each partnership will have a paper with regular language one side and comparison on the other. The teacher can read an excerpt from the book to start them out.

Write the descriptive language from Allsburgs book on the comparison side. Write out regular language that students can come up with on their own in the regular language side.
The teacher will read the book aloud or each partnership may have a copy. When finished, have partnerships raise their hands and contribute some of their outcomes. Example: Regular Language We traveled quickly over the mountains in the train. Comparison Faster and faster we ran along, rolling over peaks and through valleys like a car on a roller coaster.

Another book, such as The Stranger, can also be used. The Stranger can be used for seasonal changes in first second grade. The classroom can be taken outside for a walk to collect leaves that have changed color before the book is read. The teacher can read the book and ask questions along the way to make sure the students are paying attention (i.e. what was the stranger wearing when Mr. Bailey hit him?) Why werent the leaves changi ng color at the Bailey farm? Dont all leaves change color when autumn arrives? In maybe second to third grade, have either a read aloud or a book for each student. Have each student have a pencil and paper out. Tell them theyre going find out what makes this character a stranger. Theyre going to read for clues in the book. Raise t heir hand when we read a passage that they believe gives them a clue to this. This can help students to connect with characters in other books as well.

The Book List

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi (1979) Jumanji (1981) Bens Dream (1982) The Wreck of the Zephyr (1983) The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (1984) The Polar Express (1985) The Stranger (1986) The Z Was Zapped (1987) Two Bad Ants (1988) Just a Dream (1990) The Wretched Stone (1991) The Widows Broom (1992) The Sweetest Fig (1993) Bad Day at Riverbend (1995) Zathura (2002) Probuditi (2006) The Queen of the Falls (2011)

Fun Facts & Tid Bits

Chris sketches Fritz, a small bull-terrier, in almost all of his books. Fritz is really an idea of his brotherin-laws (David) dog, Winston. Sometimes you can spot Fritz immediately, and sometimes he is hidden in the illustrations. Be on the look-out for Fritz! In Bad Day at Riverbend (great book, surprise ending!) his daughter, Sophia did help with the illustrations, although he had to make her coloring even messier. Chris is the illustrator of three of Mark Helprins books. He was also a source for distinctive design and color style (http://www.fast-rewind.com/making_littlemermaid.htm) for the movie The Little Mermaid. The House on Maple Street, the final story in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, was originally written by Stephen King. Chris still works on sculptures while writing and illustrating books.

Dornier Dox Erector Set 48 wingspan 2000

References
http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/home.html http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-van-allsburg-chris.asp http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/64998 http://www.fast-rewind.com/making_littlemermaid.htm http://www.giving.umich.edu/giving-impact/gift-stories/index.php?page=arts-culture-van-allsburgs http://www.societyillustrators.org/Awards-and-Competitions/Original-Art/Lifetime-Honorees-Archive/2009--Chris-van-Allsburg.aspx http://www.cathla.org/awards/regina-medal/128-regina-medal-recipients http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal#70s http://library.belmont.edu/About/caldecott.html http://archive.hbook.com/bghb/past/past.asp Two Bad Ants, The Stranger, Jumanji, Bad Day at Riverbend, The Polar Express, Zathura, Probuditi!, and Just a Dream