ies of Harris Bur*censored*. This book was filled with mysterious pictures and one title and caption to go along with each. Each one sparked questions and storyline ideas the second you laid your eyes on them. As a teacher, I feel that I could use this book to introduce creative writing to my class. Each and every story that I would receive from my children would be unique based on what they feel is the underlying story to the picture. Incidentally, the second picture in the book title Under the Rug was the picture that Chris Van Allsburg astonished Walter Lorraine with.He must be a frequent dreamer, day and night, to make up such stories. I read both Just a Dream and Bens Dream. One dealt with a little boy who had no respect for the environment. He never gave it much attention. Upon going on a journey into the future one night on his bed, he discovers where the world would be heading to if everyone had the attitude towards the environment like he did. He discovered, as the reader does through the remarkable illustrations, that we all must do our part to preserve the environment. The last picture of the book is an example of Chris Van Allsburgs style. After realizing how he should change his attitude, Walter plants a tree for his birthday. That night in his dream, he travels into a better future to a neighborhood where a man is mowing his lawn between two large trees. This perhaps represents the tree that he planted for his birthday and the one that his friend had planted the day before. The other book that dealt with dreams was Bens Dream. This story took a boy on a journey through his geography textbook. He passed by all of the famous monuments that he was studying about. In the end you find out that his classmate was having the same dream and saw him there. The reader is left to wonder if they both really took the fabulous journey, or of it was just a coincidence that they had the same dream.Two other books that I ...
