My son's 4th grade teacher recently introduced her class to "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick." Have you heard of these? My son loves to write so he really got into this project. The students were asked to look through the book, select one of Burdick's drawings and descriptions, then write a story to go with the picture. What makes this book so interesting and mysterious, is the manner in which the images came to be published. Here's an excerpt from the book's official website describing how "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" came to be. Keep in mind, this was written in 1984, so the meeting he is describing actually took place in 1954. The meeting involved Peter Wenders, who once worked for a children's book publisher, and Harris Burdick himself.
Thirty years ago a man called at Peter Wenders's office, introducing himself as Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick explained that he had written fourteen stories and had drawn many pictures for each one. He'd brought with him just one drawing from each story, to see if Wenders liked his work.
Peter Wenders was fascinated by the drawings. He told Burdick he would like to read the stories that went with them as soon as possible. The artist agreed to bring the stories the next morning. He left the fourteen drawings with Wenders. But he did not return the next day. Or the day after that. Harris Burdick was never heard from again. Over the years, Wenders tried to find out who Burdick was and what had happened to him, but he discovered nothing. To this day Harris Burdick remains a complete mystery.
So, if you are a public, private or home school teacher--or if you're a parent who likes to offer your children inspiring writing assignments--this is the book for you. You can find it at most bookstores and public libraries, so be sure to check it out!
Photo source: www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com
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