iamastraythought's review against another edition
It just wasn't what I expected. I didn't know it was a children's book
elsmith09's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
belleoftheb00ks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
debz57a52's review
4.0
These stories are not all uniformly good or strong or funny. My favorite was M.T. Anderson's "Just Deserts," and my least favorite was the long Stephen King story at the back. However, all of them were cleverly written or imagined by the award-winning authors, with so little to go on - a black and white picture and a few lines of a caption. I was impressed by how much the story cropped up around the spark, how the smallest details or inferences in the picture/caption could lead to pages of a plot line. That's the special thing about this book.
snowbenton's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of short stories based on Van Allsburg's magical The Chronicles of Harris Burdick. Maybe it was the fact that I love that original, or that in seventh grade my class wrote our own stories based on these photos, or that Van Allsburg's original introduction held so much promise, but the majority of these stories were boring. The only one that truly thrilled me was M. T. Anderson's creepy story. Kate DiCamillo always manages to tug at my heartstrings. But the rest fell flat for me.
littleelfman's review against another edition
4.0
The original illustrations are brilliant and to have so many talented writers expand on them is wonderful! Love it all!
i_will_papercut_a_bish's review against another edition
4.0
Refreshingly irreverent, unnerving, and offbeat. My older children and I really enjoyed reading this (as did their grandparents). My favorite story by far was "A Strange Day in July" by Sherman Alexie. ;)