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My experience thusfar in readings lots of Van Allsburg has been rather more mixed than most of my experience reading other children's book authors, with one exception: seeing the variety in his art style (not always successful variety, but still) is interesting, because I associate him almost-exclusively with the grayscales of Jumanji and Harris Burdick. But I'm inclined to think that classic/famous books are the good ones, and while there may be a hidden gem or two anything you/I haven't heard about is honestly worth skipping.
...Which I probably won't, but oh well.
I'm particularly curious why the color work in Just a Dream is so bad when The Polar Express, which I skipped in this (re)read b/c no thanks Christmas, came out six years prior and has solid color art. Just a Dream feels slapdash, but that may just be my tired reaction to its lazy & dated environmentalist message; I don't know if the art is actually rushed, but it exchanges Van Allsburg's realism for stylized, clumsy lines that really exaggerated the hidden truth: he struggles to draw kids & faces.
Title: Ben's Dream
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin, 1982
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 317,300
Text Number: 1098
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: The geometric inkwork here is a departure for Van Allsburg; it's stylized, almost obtrusive, but gives movement and shape to the landmarks. The premise is most effective when it's at its most surreal, like the view through the iron lattice of the Eiffel tower down to the impossible sea and floating house—the architecture looms, awesome and impossibly present; it's a decently diverse and recognizable selection. But elements like Mount Rushmore haven't aged well and are played for laughs, and while the humor is a charming counterbalance it's nothing special and, as always, detracts from what I like best. Houghton Mifflin, 1982, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Title: The Wreck of the Zephyr
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin, 1983
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 317,330
Text Number: 1099
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: What's the balance, in writing for kids, between encouraging ambition and warning against the dangers of pride? I don't have an answer, but this falls of the censorious side, which isn't the takeaway I expected; it adds gravitas to the premise, but detracts from the atmosphere of wonder. The art here is pastels, which are beautiful for the sweeping, smooth curves of a ship but lack detail elsewhere and make for fuzzy, elusive landscapes and figures.
Title: The Stranger
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 318,115
Text Number: 1103
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: This is the first picture book I've read that begins with someone getting hit by a car! A weird little book, not so much for the aforementioned detail but for the way the stranger's otherworldly behavior meets the mundane, achingly normal world of the other characters and the presumed audience—but without a sense of wonder, so that he feels alien, stilted, borderline unsettling. It's a unique tone but not, it seems, entirely intentional, because it thwarts the attempt at a resonant ending. As an adult that strangeness is almost charming, albeit ineffective; I wonder if I would have been caught out by it as a child. But certainly it's not Van Allsburg's strongest work.
Title: Two Bad Ants
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 319,630
Text Number: 1120
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review:
I appreciate the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-style reversal of PoV, but the effect is more unsettling than playful, in part because the oversized human world is so dangerous, in part my insect phobia made it difficult to see through that lens—so this was just "bugs in the house; do not want." The geometric art is distinctive, but less evocative than I look for from Van Allsburg. The ending moral, as the chastened explorers return to where they're "meant to be," is even more disappointing.
Title: Just a Dream
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 319,680
Text Number: 1121
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: I adore beds in improbable places (as surrealism, as dreamscapes); this is still awful. The message that one individual's trash will lead the world to a comically exaggerated trash-dystopia and individual effort can return is to a simpler, cleaner, (idealized, fictionalized) time engages the preachy sentimentality that environmentalist texts are prone to and is outright misguided. It's a hard message to convey while making it accessible/actionable for kids, but there has to be a better way.
And every review I've read of Van Allsburg that says "the art is nice but why isn't it in color, kids like color": this is why! it's because his full-color work is bad!
...Which I probably won't, but oh well.
I'm particularly curious why the color work in Just a Dream is so bad when The Polar Express, which I skipped in this (re)read b/c no thanks Christmas, came out six years prior and has solid color art. Just a Dream feels slapdash, but that may just be my tired reaction to its lazy & dated environmentalist message; I don't know if the art is actually rushed, but it exchanges Van Allsburg's realism for stylized, clumsy lines that really exaggerated the hidden truth: he struggles to draw kids & faces.
Title: Ben's Dream
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin, 1982
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 317,300
Text Number: 1098
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: The geometric inkwork here is a departure for Van Allsburg; it's stylized, almost obtrusive, but gives movement and shape to the landmarks. The premise is most effective when it's at its most surreal, like the view through the iron lattice of the Eiffel tower down to the impossible sea and floating house—the architecture looms, awesome and impossibly present; it's a decently diverse and recognizable selection. But elements like Mount Rushmore haven't aged well and are played for laughs, and while the humor is a charming counterbalance it's nothing special and, as always, detracts from what I like best. Houghton Mifflin, 1982, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Title: The Wreck of the Zephyr
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin, 1983
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 317,330
Text Number: 1099
Read Because: reading the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: What's the balance, in writing for kids, between encouraging ambition and warning against the dangers of pride? I don't have an answer, but this falls of the censorious side, which isn't the takeaway I expected; it adds gravitas to the premise, but detracts from the atmosphere of wonder. The art here is pastels, which are beautiful for the sweeping, smooth curves of a ship but lack detail elsewhere and make for fuzzy, elusive landscapes and figures.
Title: The Stranger
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 318,115
Text Number: 1103
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: This is the first picture book I've read that begins with someone getting hit by a car! A weird little book, not so much for the aforementioned detail but for the way the stranger's otherworldly behavior meets the mundane, achingly normal world of the other characters and the presumed audience—but without a sense of wonder, so that he feels alien, stilted, borderline unsettling. It's a unique tone but not, it seems, entirely intentional, because it thwarts the attempt at a resonant ending. As an adult that strangeness is almost charming, albeit ineffective; I wonder if I would have been caught out by it as a child. But certainly it's not Van Allsburg's strongest work.
Title: Two Bad Ants
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 319,630
Text Number: 1120
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review:
I appreciate the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-style reversal of PoV, but the effect is more unsettling than playful, in part because the oversized human world is so dangerous, in part my insect phobia made it difficult to see through that lens—so this was just "bugs in the house; do not want." The geometric art is distinctive, but less evocative than I look for from Van Allsburg. The ending moral, as the chastened explorers return to where they're "meant to be," is even more disappointing.
Title: Just a Dream
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Published: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990
Rating: 1 of 5
Page Count: 50
Total Page Count: 319,680
Text Number: 1121
Read Because: reading the author, borrowed from OpenLibrary
Review: I adore beds in improbable places (as surrealism, as dreamscapes); this is still awful. The message that one individual's trash will lead the world to a comically exaggerated trash-dystopia and individual effort can return is to a simpler, cleaner, (idealized, fictionalized) time engages the preachy sentimentality that environmentalist texts are prone to and is outright misguided. It's a hard message to convey while making it accessible/actionable for kids, but there has to be a better way.
And every review I've read of Van Allsburg that says "the art is nice but why isn't it in color, kids like color": this is why! it's because his full-color work is bad!
