Presented by Genevieve Hammer and Jen Feret Chris Van Allsburg Presented by Genevieve Hammer and Jen Feret

Biography Born in Grand Rapids Michigan on June 18, 1949. He planned on becoming a lawyer at the University of Michigan, but after his freshman year he changed his major to sculpture. He graduated in 1972. He earned a masters degree in sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975. He showed his sculptures in galleries in NYC. His early artistic work shows a “strong sense of narrative and action, and they show humorous and slightly dark qualities as seen in many of his early picture books.” 1977 He began teaching illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Biography (continued) 1979 Author and artist David Macaulay convinces him that his drawings have story book potential. That same year he sent his work to Walter Lorraine from the Houghton Mifflin Company. Lorraine felt that Van Allsburg was an extremely talented artist and had the ability to tell a story through picture. His first picture book The Garden of Abdul Gasazi received a Caldecott Honor Award.

Books Published 1979 The Garden of Abdul Gasazi 1981 Jumanji 1982 Ben’s Dream 1982 The Wreck of the Zephyr 1984 The Mysteries of Harris Burdick 1985 The Polar Express 1986 The Stranger 1987 The Z was Zapped 1988 Two Bad Ants 1989 Swan Lake 1990 Just a Dream

Published Books (continued) 1991 The Wretched Stone 1992 The Widow’s Broom 1993 The Sweetest Fig 1993 The Veil of Snows 1995 Bad Day at Riverbend 1996 A City in Winter 2002 Zathura

Inspirations and Creative Process He visualizes the pictures in his mind then begins to create the story. He views the drawings and asks himself “what if ? and then what?” For example, when writing the Polar Express he started with the idea of a train traveling through the woods. He then began to wonder what if the boy gets on their train. Where would he go? The idea for Two Bad Ants started when he found two ants crawling on his counter and began to wonder what kind of journey it would be like for an ant crawling from outside into someone house.

Inspirations and Creative Process (continued) The idea for Jumanji began when he assigned his class at RISD to create drawings that show animals being part of an interior design. For Bad Day at Riverbend he saw his daughters coloring book. She had colored one of the scared looking character’s face in green and purple. To him it looked like the character was horrified about the way they had been colored. It takes him about seven month to finish a book. Believes that a good story needs to have a psychological, moral, or emotional premise.

Plot Van Allsburg creates suspenseful and adventurous plots. The conclusion of his books are very mysterious and leave the reader to wonder what will happen next. Unlike picture books that describe a simple event, his aim is to have his story “unfold as pieces of a puzzle, and on the last page I want all the pieces to fit quite definitively together.”

Themes Some of the themes used in his work include: Faith-The Polar Express Cautionary Tale and How to resolve conflict when frightened-Jumanji Comparing Illusion to Magic-The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. Being faithful to your own nature-Two Bad Ants

Illustrations The neighborhood in The Polar Express is draw from his childhood home in East Grand Rapids. The houses all stood the same distance from the street and the branches of the elm trees touched each other on the side of the street. His books contain an illustration of a bull terrier. He drew his brother in law’s dog Winston in his first book The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. He became very attached to the dog and after his death he incorporated the drawing into all his books.

Illustrations (continued) His early books have black and white pictures done in charcoal and pencil. He did not study illustration and did not know how to use color in his drawings. Years later when he became an illustrator He taught himself how to use crayon, colored pencil, and paint. He uses people as models to create realistic images. Because his stories are fantasy they need to look real in order to convince the reader that the events could really happen.

Awards 1996 Golden archer Award from Wisconsin Education Association for Jumanji Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award for the Sweetest Fig. 1995 Rhode Island Children Book Award for the Sweetest Fig. 1993 Maryland Children’s Book Award for Two Bad Ants. 1992 Georgia Children Book Award winner for Two Bad Ants 1991 Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award for Two Bad Ants. 1987 Kentucky Bluegrass Award for The Polar Express

Awards (continued 1) 1986 Caldecott Medal for the Polar Express Boston Globe Horn Book for Illustration for the Polar Express New York Times Best Illustrator for The Stranger. Parent’s Choice Award for Illustration for The Stranger. 1985 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book for The Polar Express Irma Simonton Black Award for The Mysteries of Harris Burdick West Virginia Children’s Book Award for Jumanji Parents Choice Award for Illustration for The Polar Express 1984 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s book Award for The Mysteries of Harris Burdick Washington’s Children’s Choice Picture Book for Jumanji Parent’s Choice Award for Illustration for The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

Awards (continued 2) 1983 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book for The Wreck of the Zephyr New York Times Outstanding Book for The Wreck of the Zephyr Kentucky Bluegrass Award for Jumanji 1982 Caldecott Medal for Jumanji New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book for Ben’s Dream International Board on Books Illustration Award for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Boston Globe Horn Book Award for the Illustrations in Jumanji International Reading Association Children’s Choice Award for Jumanji American Book Award for the Illustrations in Jumanji Parent’s Choice Award for the Illustrations in Ben’s Dream

Awards (continued 3) 1981 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book for Jumanji New York Times Outstanding Book Award for Jumanji 1980 Caldecott Honor Book for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Boston Globe Horn Book Award for illustration for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Irma Simonton Black Award for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi 1979 New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.

Bibliography Jennings, Kathryn. “Chris Van Allsburg” World Books Online Reference. 2005. April 14, 2005. http://www.aolsvc.worldbook.aol.com/wb/Article?id=ar580085&sc=1 Loer, Stephanie. “Interview with Chris Van Allsburg.” Author Spotlight. 1999. April 15, 2005 http://www.eduplace.com/author/vanallsburg/interview.html “About Chris” Chris Van Allsburg Official Website. 2004. April 10, 2005 www.chrisvanallsburg.com “The Books by Chris Van Allsburg. The Polar Express. 2005. April 15, 2005. http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/bookshelf.shtml “Chris Van Allsburg Biography.” Author Spotlight. 1999. April 15, 2005. http://www.eduplace.com/author/vanallsburg/biography.html “Chris Van Allsburg” The Polar Express. 2005. April 16, 2005 http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/thepolarexpress/author.shtml