Chris van allsburg biography scholastic book fair

The following text was taken from the biography section Chris Van Allsburg&#;s official web site, which can be found at :

Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18th, , the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in

Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (and made the other products) they delivered it to homes all around Grand Rapids in yellow and blue trucks.

When Chris was born, his family lived in an old farm house next door to the large brick creamery building. It was a very old house that, like the little house in Virginia Lee Burton’s story, had once looked over farmland. But by , the house was surrounded by buildings and other houses. Chris’s father ran the dairy with Chris’s three uncles after his grandfather Peter retired.

When Chris was three years old, his family moved to a new house at the edge of Grand Rapids that was part of a development; a kind of planned neighborhood, that was still being built.

There remained many open fields and streams and ponds where a boy could catch minnows and frogs, or see a firefly at night. It was about a mile and a half to Breton Downs School, which Chris walked to every day and attended until 6th grade, when the Van Allsburg family moved again.

The next house they lived in was an old brick Tudor Style house in East Grand Rapids. It was a street that looked like the street on the cover ofThe Polar Express. The houses were all set back the same distance from the street. Between the street and the sidewalk grew enormous Elm trees whose branches reached up and touched the branches of the trees on the other side of the street. Chris moved to this street with his mom, dad, sister, and two Siamese cats. One named Fafner and the other name Eloise.

Chri

Send your young readers across the Web to these great kid lit sites!

By Francine Cabreja

Magic Tree House

Need an interesting way to tie in science or social studies to reading? This Web site lists all the books in the fantastic Magic Tree House series and includes an entire section just for teachers. There are free activities, as well as research and teacher guides so you can bring the adventures of Jack and Annie into your classroom during a study of the Civil War or dinosaurs. For kids, there are Reader's and Writer's Clubs to help children work on their reading and writing skills.

Lemony Snicket

This site warns from the beginning, "ATTENTION: Please run for your life!" The sometimes sarcastic, perplexing, often depressing, but endlessly popular A Series of Unfortunate Events author's Web site begins just as the books do&#;with a disclaimer that nothing positive will come of your visit. This well-organized site takes you through a synopsis of the series, an interview with the author, a reader's guide, and some strange games (we were also amused by a wanted poster of Count Olaf). With all his wit and charm, Lemony Snicket reminds us that life doesn't always have a happy ending. This site can help to tie the books to a lesson on the importance of family or overcoming difficult situations.

Roald Dahl

The whimsical, wacky world of Roald Dahl is perfectly captured on this site &#; complete with flying chickens and creeping spiders. You will find an author biography, teacher tools, lesson ideas for favorites such as The Twits and Matilda, trivia, and special treats for kids including games. In Tips for Teachers, you can download and print ideas and lessons for free. There is also a complete list of his works and an interview. What was Roald Dahl's first book? Try the Roald Dahl Challenge!

Children's Literature Web Guide
~dkbrown/
With the ease and finesse of a research expert, you can find links to dozens of authors and illustrators thro

About Chris Van Allsburg

Chris Van Allsburg was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, Growing up in Michigan, he always loved to draw, but this interest was not always encouraged. As he moved through school, Van Allsburg's interests were more in the realm of math and science, as opposed to art. He did not even take art classes through middle or high school. Due to his high level of academic achievement, the University of Michigan sent an admissions officer to interview him. It was not until this college interview that Van Allsburg first thought about art as a career. The University of Michigan included the college of Architecture and Design, which included the art school. "It had never crossed my mind that someone could go to college and make art. I hadn’t taken any art in high school but I liked to draw and it occurred to me that studying art could be a lot of fun. I told the admissions officer that art school sounded interesting. Perhaps I’d give that a try." He went on to study sculpture and graduated in and went to graduate school at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to continue his study of sculpture. Van Allsburg married a fellow art student, Lisa Morrison, and began showcasing his sculptures within exhibits throughout New England. 

As he sculpted, he continued to draw either for fun or to plan out his next sculpture. You may have heard the old proverb, "Behind every great man there's a great woman." Well, in Chris Van Allsburg's case, this was very true. His wife, an elementary art teacher, insisted that his drawings would make great illustrations for children's book.