Chris Van Allsburg Author/Illustrator

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1 Chris Van Allsburg Author/Illustrator

2 Chris Van Allsburg is a contemporary children s author. He is a master at weaving stories and his illustrations bring them to life. He has been writing books since 1979 and you can find many of them right here in our own PSE library collection! A few of his most well-known books include The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, The Widow s Broom, Two Bad Ants and The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie.

3 Two of his most famous books were even turned into movies! Have you ever seen The Polar Express?

4 What about Jumanji? Jumanji and it s sequel Zathura were both made into movies. And another Jumanji movie sequel just came out a few weeks ago!

5 About Chris Van Allsburg Born June 18, 1949 Grew up in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area His family ran a local dairy/creamery that delivered butter, cream, cottage cheese & ice cream He was very interested in math and science, and never took any art classes until college Chris applied to the University of Michigan, College of Architecture and Design, because he thought art sounded fun. He was accepted without any art classes on his high school transcript and with no portfolio! He had lied and told the admissions officer that he took art classes on Saturdays because he was too advanced for the high school classes! Graduated in 1972 with a degree in sculpture. He worked with bronze casting, wood carving, resin molding, etc. Rhode Island School of Design for his MFA, graduated in 1975 First sculpture exhibit was in 1977 at the Alan Stone Gallery in NYC First drawing exhibit was in 1978 at The Whitney Museum of Art Married to wife, Lisa, and they have two daughters Currently lives north of Boston in Beverly, MA

6 Chris met his wife while they were at college in Michigan. She was also an art student, and she went on to become an art teacher at an elementary school. She often used picture books to teach her lessons and she thought that Chris drawings would make great book illustrations. An editor at Houghton Mifflin in Boston agreed. But he thought that rather than just illustrating someone else s books, Chris should illustrate his own! Since writing his first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Chris Van Allsburg has written and illustrated nearly 20 of his own books and has illustrated several others that were written by other authors.

7 About the work of Chris Van Allsburg -Books take him between 7 and 9 months to create. -He always has an idea for his story before he starts drawing. -Chris writes outlines and then does his drawings. -He first made illustrations with charcoal pencil because that s how he made drawings to plan his sculptures. -Over time he learned to work with dry and oil pastels, craypas, crayons, colored pencils and paint. -He sees stories in his head like a short movie and that s when he decides if the book will be in black and white or color. -His stories are often sparked by something he sees in his every day life, but then his imagination takes over and thinks, what if.

8 Chris Van Allsburg illustrates his books very realistically. While his stories are very fantastical creations, he wants his reader to always be thinking about the chance that they might actually BE possible. His detailed, lifelike illustrations keep the reader grounded. He does this by using models for his drawings and using formal art techniques like the laws of perspective and lighting.

9 Where do his stories come from? The ideas for my books come to me in different ways. For instance, I once was standing in my kitchen one morning, and saw two ants on the counter top. I believed the ants came from my back yard, and began to wonder what a trip from the back yard to my kitchen would be like for an ant. That started me thinking about a story of two ants and their unusual journey into a house. The story became, Two Bad Ants.

10 Notice how Chris Van Allsburg used perspective to show that this is taking place from the ants point of view. The reader is getting a glimpse into their lives in a very realistic way.

11 The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?

12 The idea that a magic train appears to take children on night time trips sounds very amazing. But, Chris Van Allsburg uses his illustrations to show just how ordinary this boy and his house are. He has also depicted the train to look like a very typical looking train. These normal details make the story and character very relatable, and we can t help but wonder (and hope!) that this story could actually be real!

13 Awards just a few examples of many! Caldecott Honor Medal for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Caldecott Medals for Jumanji and The Polar Express Boston Globe Horn Book Award for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi Boston Globe Honor for The Polar Express and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick National Book Award for Illustration for Jumanji Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children s literature

14 And now on to the activity! Please refer to the next presentation.