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Chris
Van Allsburg
Early Life
Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, 1949 born to Richard and Doris Van Allsburg. He has a sister,
Karen who is two years older. While living in East Grand Rapids, Chris lived in an old brick Tudor Style house.
He lived on a street that looked like the street on the cover of The Polar Express.
While in high school and haven't chosen a college with the university, a man from the university came and interviewed
Chris. Chris had not chosen a career yet. There was a college of Architecture and Design which had a school for
art. Chris always enjoyed drawing, but he had not taken any art classes, but lied to say that he had studied art privately
on Saturdays for some years. The university man told Chris he was not qualified to enter college because his transcripts
did not show any art classes. So he decided to outsmart the man, which was common among student to try to outsmart adults.
One question the man asked was about Norman Rockwell and what Chris thought about him. Chris replied: "I believe Norman
Rockwell is unfairly criticized for being sentimental. I think he is a wonderful painter who captures America's longings,
America's dreams and presents American life with the drama and sensitivity of a great playwright." With that statement,
Chris got admitted. Chris graduated from University of Michigan majoring in sculpture. Later, he went to graduate school at
the Rhode Island School of Design and continue his course study in sculpture. While in Rhode Island, he married Lisa
Morrison, who he met at UofM four years earlier. She was also an art student who studied education. She became
an elementary teacher in Providence. Lisa encouraged Chris to make illustrations for a story book. That's
how he started out and he set aside his sculpture. Chris started thinking of his own storied. The Garden
of Abdul Gasazi got published in 1979. After that, Chris has written and illustrataed 15 books and has illustrated
three others that were written by Mark Helprin.
Awards
In 1980, he awarded the Caldecott Honor Medal for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. He also won two Caldecott
Medals for Jumanji and The Polar Express. His first book was a recipient of Boston Globe Horn
Book Award for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. Also The Polar Express and The Mysteries of
Harris Burdick were also winners of Boston Globe Horn Book Award. Chris has been awarded the Regina Medal for lifetime
achievement in children's literature. Jumanji won the National Book Award in 1982 and in 1996 it was made into
a movie.
Thoughts
My early love for drawing developed into a love for telling stories through pictures. Stories begin as fragments of pictures
in my mind. I create a story by posing questions to myself. I call it the “what if” and “what then”
approach. For example, for my book Jumanji, I started out by thinking “What if two bored children discovered a board
game? What if the board game came to life? What then?” The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone
in the woods. I asked myself, “What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?”
When you first look at my illustrations, you see ordinary, everyday things. But if you look closer, things might not seem
quite so simple. When I'm writing a book, I always try to create something strange or puzzling in each picture. By using artistic
strategies of perspective, light, and point of view, I can give the drawing a kind of mysterious quality. In other words,
the style I use allows me to make a drawing that has a little mystery to it, even if the actual things I am drawing are not
strange or mysterious.
All of my books are picture books, so they are generally thought of as books for children. But when I make them, I think
of the books as being for everybody - for people of all ages. When I was a kid, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew
up, but now I'm really glad I became an artist and a storyteller.
Cited Works
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