Artful Author Studies

Teaching Pre K-8, Nov/Dec 2004 by Healy, John W

A close study of the work of author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg - or any author you choose

The school library isn't the first place one thinks of when children make art, but I walked into a middle school library recently and saw an art cart, common to art teachers who are itinerant in their daily responsibilities. I also noticed numerous illustrations of characters from author Chris Van Allsburg's books, including Jumanji (Houghton Mifflin, 1981), on the library's glass partitions. When I asked what was going on, the school librarian, Leslie Rausch, told me the art cart was hers, and that she regularly integrates art in the library. What a great idea!

Leslie likes to focus on one author at a time - preferably an author who has written a number of books. Students examine the content of each story and the development of the writer's style. The creative journey in the life of an author gives insight into why these books were created. How does the author change in each book?

All about Van Allsburg

Chris Van Allsburg is an accomplished artist who has been awarded the Caldecott Medal twice. Formerly a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Chris Van Allsburg's art and art lessons evolved into the themes for his books. One lesson he developed for the classroom posed a problem: illustrate the interior of a room, then fill the room with wild animals. This lesson stirred his imagination to write Jumanji.

It can be useful to share Chris Van Allsburg's creative process with children. Van Allsburg starts with images in his mind and then asks himself the important questions "What if?" and "What then?" Imagine, for example, illustrating a room. What if you filled that room with wild animals? "What if?" and "What then?" are provocative questions that can unleash one's imagination.

Activity: Studying an author's process

1 Select an author who has written a number of children's books appropriate for the grade level you teach. Ask your school librarian to stock multiple copies of these books. I recommend the books of Chris Van Allsburg!

2 Break the class into groups and give each group the same book.

3 Have the students read as many different books by the selected author as time will allow.

4 Discuss the illustrations in the books and how they relate to the story.

5 Have each student select one illustration that best exemplifies the book. The illustrations for Jumanji elicited the following responses from Leslie Rausch's classes:

"Where is the dog?" Finding Fritz the dog (who appears somewhere in most of Chris Van Allsburg's books) evokes a great deal of interest from children. The search helps students to look carefully at each illustration of the book they're reading.

"Which Jumanji-style room full of animals came first - the movie or the book?" The answer is neither. The art assignment Van Allsburg gave his RISD students was the starting point. After seeing his students' illustrations, he asked himself, "What if? What then?"

The monochromatic, gradually-changing tones of a Van Allsburg illustration are very popular with children, who often describe them as "spooky" and "scary."

6 Students will draw one character from their favorite illustration. For young children, you may want to draw the outline of a person for them and let them fill in the identifying details.

7 Exhibit the illustrations prominently around the library.

8 Student writing is a bonus to this lesson. The Mysteries of Harris Burdick (Houghton Mifflin, 1984) has the ideal premise for encouraging children to participate in creative writing. Fourteen unique drawings are presented in the book. Each illustration is accompanied by a title and one or two opening sentences. This format invites the students to write a story that answers the questions, "What if? What then?"

Dr. John W. Healy teaches art at Woodland Middle School, East Meadow, NY.