By: Marisa Thompson

Chris Van Allsburg was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, 1949

Chris moved a lot when he was young. He walked to Breton Downs School everyday until

he was in 6th grade.

In college Chris majored in sculpture at the University of Michigan. He graduated in 1972 and went to the Rhode Island School of Design

to continue his study of sculpture.

Chris became an author and illustrator because he loved art and liked drawing

pictures and some of them even got into museums. His wife, Lisa, encouraged Chris to illustrate picture books. An

editor encouraged Chris to write and illustrate picture books.

Chris lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife, Lisa, and his two daughters, Anna and

Sophia. Chris works in his 3rd floor studio. For fun Chris likes to ride his bike and play tennis.

He does not play any instruments, but he entertains his kids by playing simple tunes by

playing a recorder through his nose.

When he wrote his first book Chris really only knew how to draw with a charcoal pencil. So some of his books were in black and white, but he didn’t feel bad his pictures were not in color because he likes black and white.

A lot of ideas that Chris has comes from things he sees or things around him. He came up with ideas for the Two Bad Ants when he saw two ants crawling on his counter top.

HOW IS HIS BOOKS CONNECTED WITH HIS DREAMS?

Chris’s books are connected with his dreams because he dreams a lot about his books.

WHAT DOES CHRIS THINK MAKES A GOOD STORY?

Chris thinks that a good story should have a

good plot and make a person want to find out about what happens to

the characters.

When Chris was a kid he liked to play Monopoly and he thought what if there was a game that

when you go on a square something

happened.

Chris saw a bull terrier and put it in his first

book. Then he put Fritz in his second

book too. He wanted a model for Fritz so when he heard his

brother was getting a dog he told him to get

a bull terrier. After his brother got the dog he became the new model

for Fritz.

I have learned that Chris likes writing and illustrating picture books. He also puts a

lot of hard work into his books because he wants people to enjoy them.

They were similar because they each had problems that needed to be

solved. They were different because they all had different plots.

Out of the three books I read my favorite was Probuditi because the little sister tricks her older brother by pretending to by hypnotized.