The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales by Chris Van Allsburg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I really wish I could rate all of the stories separately. Some are one-star, others are five-star. I think it's probably hard to tell a famous author "This is terrible, try again" when you've invited them to write for a collection like this, and it shows. Overall, it's a lot of fun to see what the authors do with Mr. Van Allsburg's intriguing illustrations.
Some of the better ones are "The Harp" (Linda Sue Park), "The Third-Floor Bedroom" (Kate DiCamillo), and "Just Desert" (M.T. Anderson). Lois Lowry's "The Seven Chairs" is good until the last paragraph when she takes out her moralizing two-by-four. Louis Sachar's "Captain Tory" is sweet. The very best is Stephen King's "The House on Maple Street."
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