
The award-winning author of Jumanji and The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg, challenges young readers to use their creativity and imagination in this one-of-a-kind book that asks readers to finish the story.
When author-illustrator extraordinaire Harris Burdick goes missing, all he’s left behind are a series of images with accompanying captions, ideas for separate picture books.
But what can a picture of a nun quietly sitting in a chair floating in a cathedral have to do with a caption that says, “THE SEVEN CHAIRS: The fifth one ended up in France?”
Enticed to come up with their own endings, readers will marvel at the mystery behind these lasting drawings and the charm of an everchanging narrative.
Caldecott medal winner Chris Van Allsburg’s call for readers to write their own stories will enthrall young minds again and again.
Chris Van Allsburg (born June 18, 1949) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for Jumanji (1981) and The Polar Express (1985), both of which he also wrote; both were later adapted as successful motion pictures. He was also a Caldecott runner-up in 1980 for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, he was a 1986 U.S. nominee for the biennial International Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for creators of children's books. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan in April 2012.

The award-winning author of Jumanji and The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg, challenges young readers to use their creativity and imagination in this one-of-a-kind book that asks readers to finish the story.
When author-illustrator extraordinaire Harris Burdick goes missing, all he’s left behind are a series of images with accompanying captions, ideas for separate picture books.
But what can a picture of a nun quietly sitting in a chair floating in a cathedral have to do with a caption that says, “THE SEVEN CHAIRS: The fifth one ended up in France?”
Enticed to come up with their own endings, readers will marvel at the mystery behind these lasting drawings and the charm of an everchanging narrative.
Caldecott medal winner Chris Van Allsburg’s call for readers to write their own stories will enthrall young minds again and again.
Chris Van Allsburg (born June 18, 1949) is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for Jumanji (1981) and The Polar Express (1985), both of which he also wrote; both were later adapted as successful motion pictures. He was also a Caldecott runner-up in 1980 for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, he was a 1986 U.S. nominee for the biennial International Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition for creators of children's books. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Michigan in April 2012.