“The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” by Chris Van Allsburg

Is Harris Burdick real? Or another fantastical creation from the fertile mind of Van Allsburg? We may never know. The author/illustrator who created “Jumanji” now brings us an intriguing collection of fourteen images, and a bit of a tall tale. Thirty years ago, a man named Harris Burdick supposedly walked into the office of a publisher friend of Van Allsburg. He left the fourteen sketches, along with their titles and opening lines. Saying he had the accompanying stories at home, he promised to return the next day. He never came back. The publisher tried in vain to find him, and Van Allsburg, upon seeing the pictures, felt inspired to recreate them and publish the lot. The images are nothing if not intriguing, and any writer worth their salt would want to have this book as a writing prompt. Fanciful story or reality, this book is a treasure.

“Not a Box” by Antoinette Portis

Winner of this year’s Seuss Geisel Honor, this plain looking picture book needs absolutely no frills to make its point. The sheer delight of watching a bunny (baby) explore a paper box with all the imagination of childhood makes it clear that you don’t need gadgets to have fun. Clever in lots of subtle ways (the cover looks like a paper box) the simple message will make you smile.

“Lump of Coal” by Lemony Snicket

This skinny little picture book is sheer delight, and very typical of the Lemony Snicket dark humor. “Lump of Coal” wants to be an artist, but he is shunned by the arts community. He would settle for cooking a meal (yes, that’s slightly perverse) but is equally rejected by the proprietor of a faux Korean barbeque. In the end, Santa helps him out and everything develops as you might expect. I’m hoping to add this one to my read-alouds in the future – both kids and adults will “get it”.