Student Work

Solving Mysteries – Winter 2001 – Mrs. Conklin

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg, captured our attention because each of these stories has only a title, a caption, and a picture. The premise of the book is unique: Mr.Burdick, the main character and fictional author of this book, approached children's publisher Peter Wenders, with his superb drawings. There were fourteen pictures and stories in all, and Burdick brought one sample picture from each story. He left the illustrations with Peter Wenders and promised to return the next day with the complete manuscript in hand. He never returned, and although Peter Wenders searched for Mr. Burdick for several years, he was nowhere to be found. Wenders made the decision to go ahead and publish the illustrations. Each story is a mystery waiting to be solved by the reader. In an attempt to complete these stories which, began with only a title, a caption, and a picture, our class wrote creative stories using our imaginations. I asked my students, ages 8-10, to write about the picture of their choice. I did not specify the stories to be any particular length, just long enough to tell their story. My purpose in this activity was to get them to use their unique creativity and imagination. Some of our stories are still mysterious in nature, while others explain what Mr. Burdick may have had in mind when he created each picture. We hope you enjoy our stories.

Table of Contents:

Ian Frye
Kamaal Harris
Calista Small
Rosy Capron
Lindsay Olsen
Sally Gu
Roxy Capron
Caroline Mills
Daniel Chardell
Erika Freihofer
Jonathan Briskman
Kathleen DelGrande

Solving Mysteries – Winter 2001 – Assignment

Missing In Venice
Picture Description: Missing In Venice is unusual because it has two pictures instead of one. The first picture shows a huge ocean lineer that was being pulled into a very small canal with four story homes and businesses on each side of the water. It is obvious that the ocean liner will completely destroy all these buildings if it does not go into reverse. The second picture shows a mischevious young girl with a magician's hat and cape holding a wand in both hands. She looks to be in a principal's office standing in front of a desk. An adult's hand is extended toward the girl asking her to hand over the wand.

Missing In Venice by Ian Frye
It was May 21, 1948. The huge ocean liner was finished. It was named "Titanica." Tomorrow she was heading for Sydney, Australia. Meanwhile, a little wizard was getting into trouble. She caused a dragon to attack a school. The ship "Titanica" was leaving at 12:30 P.M. As the ship got ready to leave, the people started boarding. Ten minutes later, the ship started to leave but something happened to the ship. It started going the wrong way down the canal instead of going to the ocean. Even with her mighty engines in reverse, the ocean liner was pulled further and further into the canal. Everyone started to blame the wizard for this, too. How she did it, we don't know.

Missing in Venice by Kamaal Harris
Once there was a man and a woman, and they had no child of their own. One day, they were walking to a movie theater when they came upon a stranger. He said, "Beware that you shall have a baby in 3 months." They said that it was impossible. Three months later, they had a baby girl. They had no idea of how they gave birth to her. Just then, the same stranger they had met 3 months earlier came and told them that they would be raising a witch, and gave them a wand. "I shall guard this in your basement, " he said. As the years went by, Anne kept going into the family basement, but kept getting caught. When she was 8 years old and her parents were shopping, she grabbed the wand and got out of the house. She tried testing it out and it turned over a tree. Then she went into town and sent an ocean liner into a canal. Even with the ships mighty engines in reverse, it could not go out of the canal. Shocked at what she had just done, she tried to run away from the scene. However, Anne forgot that her parents were shopping nearby. They saw her and were about to take the wand away when she used the wand to transport the ocean liner back into the ocean, but the people on the ship ended up missing in Venice. Still, her parents thought that this time she had gone too far, and took the wand and broke it. She did learn a lesson, which was to never mess with anything she did not know about ever again. Later, Anne's father asked her, "Was that tree turned over when we left?"

The Third-Floor Bedroom
Picture Description: The Third-Floor Bedroom shows an open window with a breeze blowing the curtains. The wallpaper is filled with designs of birds and vines. One bird is missing from the wallpaper and another bird is lifting its wing as if to fly away any instant.

The Third Floor Bedroom by Calista Small
"Honey, you need to go to bed now. It is nine o'clock and past your bedtime," said Mom. "I'm coming, Mom. I just want to get the thermostat to work," I said. "But I told you a hundred times, it does not work. Why don't you try opening a window," said Mom. "Good idea," I said.

When I opened the window, a whole gust of wind came in. That was strange, I thought. It's only early winter and it does not get too cold up here. I was very scared because my dad just died. I left it open anyway. The next morning I saw that one of my birds was ripping off the wallpaper, so I glued it on. But when I came from school, two birds were partially ripped off and their faces looked angry, but I still kept the window open. That night, I woke up and heard a loud noise and when I turned on the light, all the birds on my wallpaper were ripping off! Then my mom came in and all the ripping stopped. No loud noise. I lied to my mom and said I fell off the bed because I knew she would not believe me.

That morning, I was really tired and very hot. Then I noticed someone had closed the window. I tried to get it open, but it was stuck. My mom could not even do it. This was starting to get really strange, but not a bird was ripped off. I decided to leave it closed, because I think I solved the mystery.

The Seven Chairs
Picture Description: The Seven Chairs shows a nun sitting comfortably in a chair that is suspended 20 feet in the air. She is inside a beautiful cathedral containing many arches and windows. Two bishops are staring at her from the ground with their hands behind their back. It appears as if they were wondering how she got up there in the first place.

The Chair by Rosy Capron
Once there was a family made out of two people: John Salvafus (Mr. S.) and Mary Salvafus (Mrs. S.). One day, they had a very strange man come into their house. He was wearing a long coat like the spies on TV wear, big sunglasses, and a hat that spies also wear on TV.

"I have a gift for you," he said to Mary and John. "What is it?" they asked.

After they said that, the creepy man snapped his fingers and two men came in carrying a fancy chair that looked like it could be 100 years old.

John took out his wallet to pay the man, but when he did, the men carrying the chair disappeared. Then John and Mary carried the chair (it was quiet heavy) upstairs.

Later that week, life changed around the Salvafus' house when John and Mary adopted a girl, age eight. Her name was Jane. When they brought her home it was bedtime.

Before Mary left the room, she put Jane down on the chair (the one from the creepy man). After Mary left, Jane took her diary out and started writing, but before she could write in it, she fell asleep.

That night, Jane's book opened, and from inside it grew an ugly flower. Inside that flower, out popped a little monster. When that monster saw Jane, he licked his lips and then took a small nip at Jane's hand. Then, he leaped back into the flower and the flower was shut back into the book.
In the morning, when John and Mary walked into Jane's room to wake her, she did not wake up. Then John shook her one more time, and she woke up. She had a big fierce grin on her face (like the monster had) and her eyes were orange.

They were so scared they jumped out of the room and locked it.

John was very smart, so he knew the chair had to have something in it. He put on gloves (so he did not touch the chair) and started whacking it up and down in despair. But, he did not do that for long because he got a better idea. He then got to the phone, called the airport and asked when and where their next flight was. They said it was in fifteen minutes and it was going to Paris. Before the lady could finish her sentence, John picked up the chair (still wearing his gloves), got in his car and drove to the airport. When he got to the airport, he bought tickets, got on the plane (still with their chair and wearing gloves).

Nine hours later, the plane landed in Paris. Right away, John ran out of the airport and, with his good luck, he saw a church orphanage with a large nun sitting outside. John carried the chair over to the nun and asked, "Would you like this chair for your orphanage?"

" She said, "Maybe. Let me try it out." Then she sat in the chair.

The chair started flying up in the air. When it got about twenty feet off the ground, it fell. When it fell, the chair broke and the large nun rolled away. Also, when the chair broke, a big green gas came out of it. John guessed it was the bad thing that made the chair bad. And he was right. John knew that he could not just let the bad green gas float there, so he found a plastic bag and ran with it to the big, green gas and caught it in the bag.

"What am I going to do with this?" John wondered. He was still holding the bag.

He got an idea. He saw a sidewalk with wet cement. He went over and stuck the bag in it and covered it with the cement. From that point on, John knew that nothing would be happening for awhile. When he returned from the trip, the creepy man came back again to offer them a couch.

"NO WAY!"

Univited Guests
Picture Description: Univited Guests depicts a basement-like room with junk piled around the walls and an old ice skate hanging from a rafter. There is a very small door off to one side and a wooden staircase to the other side. Someone is cautiously walking down the stairs toward the small door.

The Uninvited Guests by Lindsay Olsen
It all began on a cloudy day when Mr. Smith and his family left for church. As they climbed into their tiny car, which had not been driven in over a week, Willie (Mr. Smith's 8 year old son) noticed that the car door had been left unlocked. Of course, this wasn't such a big deal because the car was parked in the driveway. "That's odd," said Mr. Smith. "I'm sure I locked all the doors." "Let's make sure nothing's missing," said ten year old Carrie Smith. "Great idea," said Willie, and they began to look. Although nothing was missing, it looked like someone had been looking for something. The family had many questions about the break-in. The question everyone had was: How did he (or it) unlock the doors, and why didn't they take anything?

A few days later, Mrs. Smith woke up screaming. Carrie ran into the room yelling, "What? What?" "My necklace, it's gone! It was right on the counter and now it's gone!" "Well," said Willie, "necklaces don't just walk away. Someone must have stolen it!" "Maybe the same person that broke into our car!" said Carrie. "I'll search the house," said Willie.

Willie decided that the best place to start looking was the basement since it had so many secret passageways. He walked quickly down the stairs to the basement. He noticed that one of the doors had been opened. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled around on the floor looking for anything suspicious. Willie finally found a tiny door. He opened it and got down on his stomach and slithered through the door. The door led him to a dark room, which was damp and warm. It was lit by a single candle flickering in the middle of the room. Nothing was moving inside, but there was a tunnel leading somewhere. It was a large tunnel about 3 feet high. Willie ducked down and began walking down the tunnel. At the end of the tunnel there was another tiny door. Willie crawled through once again. Instead of leading to a dark room, it led to a big, brightly lit room. Willie walked in. Just then, 3 men walked in from a side door. Each was carrying an umbrella. One of the men was short and fat, one tall and thin, and the last was about 1 foot tall, carrying a doll sized umbrella. They sat on the umbrellas, and they began to spin. These strange men on their top-like umbrellas were headed straight for Willie! Two of the men stopped right in front of Willie. The other stopped a few feet behind. The small man gave a signal and walked right up to Willie making odd squeaking sounds. Finally, he began to speak in English. "I'm Zooloo, the King of the Squeakers," he squeaked. "And why may I ask you, have you come to Cedar Village?" "Well sir, I have come to look for my mother's emerald necklace," said Willie. "Necklace? Hmm. Let me think, oh yes. I saw Judith White wearing one yesterday, but I think it was diamond. Well, has anyone else left your village lately?" "The Thompsons went on vacation a few days ago, but now they're back." "I think I've solved the mystery. Did you know that the Thompsons spent their vacation in your car? Let's go over to the Thompson's house immediately."

Willie and Zooloo walked over to the Thompson's house. Joey Thompson confessed that he had stolen Mrs. Smith's necklace while he was on vacation inside of their car. He returned the necklace and from then on, the squeakers and the Smiths were good friends.

Another Place, Another Time
Picture Description: Another Place, Another Time shows several children on a boat-train traveling on a railroad across a body of water. In the distance there is fog, and far away on the horizon a castle can be seen through the clouds. The children are traveling in that direction with the sail in the direction of the wind.

The Golden Apples by Sally Gu
There once was a kind king who had three beautiful daughters. The king wanted his daughters to marry young wealthy princes. The two older daughters did marry princes, but the youngest daughter married a poor ugly man. Well, one day the king found that he was blind. He found out that the magic golden apples could cure him. So he sent the two princes to get them. "If you come back empty handed, I will have you hanged," said the king. So the princes set off. They stopped at an inn to rest. They were very worried because they did not know how to get the apples. So they decided to just stay in the inn forever. Then, in came the poor man. The king had sent him too, just in case. The next day the poor man set off again. The night before, he had found out that a giant could help him. After a hard and long trip, he found the giant's house. The giant told him the directions carefully and the poor man set off again. He followed the directions quickly and entered the splendid palace. He crept into the queen's room and saw the sparkling golden apples. He took ten and left the palace. He soon got to his home, and the king was cured.

The New Story of Jack by Roxy Capron
"Jack, it's time for you to leave to go camping," said Jack's mom. "Thank you! I was waiting for this day. Let me pack and then I'm gone!" said Jack. Jack packed two dollars, a blanket, an umbrella, a coat, a book, and a cooler full of food.

Half an hour later, Jack was out. So he started walking. First, he bumped into the Three Little Pigs. Jack hated the Three Little Pigs (because they were spoiled, selfish brats), so he quickly walked away. Two minutes later, Jack was sitting on the steps of a palace.

"Little boy, little boy, wait, I know you! Jack, look up!" said a voice. Jack looked up. "Oh, hi, Rapunzel," he said. "I didn't expect to see my cousin. What can I do for you, Runzy?" (That was her nickname.) "Old Maple Witch has locked me up here. Can you get me down?" asked Rapunzel. "Sure, I'll go buy some rope, throw it up, and you can climb down," answered Jack. "I would love that," said Rapunzel.

Soon after that, Rapunzel was walking down the wall of that castle. "Thank you, let me give you a reward. Here's seventy bucks," said Rapunzel. "And one more thing, Jack. Can I come with you? I mean, it's so boring just playing with the same people over and over again. Please!" Rapunzel pleaded. "Sure, you can come with me."

Soon they were in the woods. "I have a question. Where are we going anyway?" said Runzy. "First the hardware store to get an axe, then the giant's house to capture his pig who has golden piglets, and the keyboard that sings and the wheelbarrow of gold."

An hour later (after they ate lunch), they were in the middle of the forest. Jack and Runzy were standing in front of the famous beanstalk. It was so old it had spider webs on it. So then and there, they started to climb, and they climbed and climbed. Finally, they got to the top.

"There's the house and there's a hole in front of it. Let's go through the hole, grab the stuff and leave. And when we get to the bottom, I will chop down the beanstalk. Okay?"

So, they ran through the hole. After they got inside, they stopped dead in their tracks. There, on the giant's kitchen table were the Three Little Pigs, one roasted, one fried, and one cooked! Runzy started to cry. It took at least two minutes to walk away from that spot. "Hey, look over there by the lamp. It's the treasure. Let's get it," said Jack.

They got the treasure. On the way out, they had to pass through the kitchen again. "Now we have to sneak out," instructed Jack. The two of them pushed and pulled, but couldn't get the treasure out through the hold. Suddenly, everything started floating and moved toward the beanstalk. They started floating down the beanstalk.When they got to the bottom, Jack got out his axe and started chopping the beanstalk.

"Why are you chopping the beanstalk? The giant didn't even see us," said Runzy. "If the giant notices the treasure is gone, he's going to come get us," said Jack. So he finished the chopping. "Since I'm the only one who lives on a farm, I get the pig," said Jack. "Since I'm the only one who has to do lots of chores, I get the wheelbarrow and the key board," said Runzy. "Well, we should go home now. It's getting dark." So everyone went home and lived a happy life.

Mr. Linden's Library
Picture Description: In Mr. Linden's Library, a young girl is asleep on her bed with a book open. On her nightstand is a lamp that is still glowing. It is obvious she was reading before she fell asleep. From the middle of this book a wild vine is growing.

Mr. Linden's Library by Caroline Mills
One day in Mr. Linden's library, a girl named Claire walked in. No one had come to Mr. Linden's library for 17 years. Claire walked over to the garden section. She looked through all the books. Suddenly, she tripped over something. It was a book. She picked it up. It looked old. It was called, Your Own Enchanted Garden. She walked over to Mr. Linden.

"I would like to check out this book," said Claire. "Oh, no! You shouldn't check that book out! It's bewitched!" shouted Mr. Linden."I don't believe in witches and spells anyway," said Claire. "Alright, but I warned you," said Mr. Linden.

That night after dinner, Claire started to read the book from Mr. Linden's library. She had gotten up very early that morning, so she was tired. She fell asleep with the book open in her arms. At about midnight, a plant started to grow out of the book. It wrapped itself around Claire and then started to wrap itself around her bed and then her lamp and continued wrapping around everything in her room until her room looked like a jungle filled with every kind of plant and even some worms. Her floor was covered with dirt.

At 10:00 a.m. Claire woke up. She screamed at the top of her lungs. He mother came running to see what was wrong. She screamed too. Her mother ran to the kitchen and grabbed the sharpest knife she could find and ran back to Claire's room and started to cut down the tall plants to get to Claire, but the plants wrapped around her ankles and pulled her down. Soon the plants had taken over the whole house. One of their neighbors saw the plant starting to grow on the outside of their house and called the police. By the time the police got there, the plants had already destroyed three cars and were starting to cover a third house. The fire department came with the police, but when they went into the houses they were sucked to the ground.

There was only one person who knew how to get rid of the plants. And that one person was Mr. Linden. That night while Mr. Linden was reading the paper, he came across an article about mysterious plants that were taking over the town. He immediately drove to Claire's house. He went in the house. Plants moved toward the walls as he passed. He wandered around the house searching for Claire's room. Finally he found it. He slowly walked in. He stepped on something hard. He knelt down and pulled off the weeds. It was someone's hand! He uncovered the rest of the body. It was Claire's mother. He walked over to a lump that looked like a bed. He started to uncover the bed. He found the book and ran outside. He got in his car and drove to the country. He put the book on the ground and got out his matches. He started a fire. He waited a few hours and when he was sure the book was gone, he put out the fire and drove home. Everything was gone. No more book, no more plants.

Mr. Linden's Library by Daniel Chardell
Alice had a book report due in 2 days. She had put it off to the last minute. She had looked through all of her books, but they were too long. She decided to go to the library and get a shorter book. On the way to the library, she saw a new library. Then in the window she saw a book that looked perfect. "Yes, I found it," she said running to the library. She saw a sign that said, "Mr. Linden's Library." When Alice went inside, she saw a strange old man. Alice turned around and saw the book in the window. But then another book caught her eye. A brightly colored book. She grabbed it off the shelf.

You Don't Know What It's Like to be in a Jungle was the title. Alice decided to get this book. When she went to the counter, the strange old man said, "Oh, I prefer that you do not check out that book."

Alice saw a name tag on the man's shirt. It said, "Mr. Linden."

"Well, Mr. Linden," said Alice, "why can't I check it out?"

"You just can't." "I am checking it OUT," Alice said very loudly.

"Alright, but I'm warning you."

When Alice got home she started reading very fast. When she was half way done, it was very late. She kept on reading but fell asleep. At about 2:15 A.M., something happened. Alice had been in the part where the boy had been trapped in a jungle. Then all of a sudden, a plant started growing out of the book. Soon Alice's room was a jungle. Then at 2:45, she heard a noise, and it woke her up. Alice was stunned to see her room was a jungle. Then, she saw a tiger jump right at her. She jumped out of bed and the tiger jumped.

"Where's the door? Where's the windows?" she said. She pushed away the plants blocking where the door used to be. Then she saw the door. She opened it and it was a dark, pitch black room, but with a spotlight on a table. And on the table was the book. She picked up the book and looked inside. The pages were blank. But then writing appeared all of a sudden. It said, "Then Alice heard a growl, a tiger jumped on top of her and...." Then Alice woke up.

"It was a dream! Yeah!" It was morning. She quickly got dressed and ran to the library to return the book. When she got there, it was empty. So she went to school. When she got there, a name was written on the board, MR. LINDEN. "Alice," said Mr. Linden, "I am your substitute for today. Your teacher, Mrs. Goth, well just look in your book."

Alice flipped through the book. When she got the where a book mark was, it said, "Amy Goth fell off of the bridge from being chased by a tiger and landed in the river with many rocks in it."

"So kids, let's do our book reports. Ah, Alice, how about you? Was your book tigeriffic?" Mr. Linden cried. Then he turned into a tiger, the same tiger as in her dream. He walked toward Alice. "So Alice, how should this tale end?" he said. He jumped at Alice, "ROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!"

Mr. Linden's Library by Erika Freihofer

Chapter 1
Shelly went to the library one day to get a book. She asked Mr. Linden where to find scary stories. He said, "Look in section three."

So Shelly looked in section three. There she found a book called The Vine. She took it to Mr. Linden. "I want to check this book out please," she said. "Don't check out this book," he said. "Why not?" said Shelly. "Because it is dangerous," said Mr. Linden. "I am checking this book out!" she said. "Okay," Mr. Linden said, "but I am warning you."

Chapter 2
That night Shelly reached to get the book. She read for a little, but soon the book began to grow a vine. Shelly let go of the book. The vine got bigger and bigger and bigger. Soon she threw the book in a basket. The next morning she returned the book. The librarian asked her how the book was.

"Well, Mr. Linden," she said, "I think I learned my lesson the hard way."

Archie Smith, Boy Wonder
Picture Description: Archie Smith, Boy Wonder shows a young boy sleeping peacefully in his bed at night with the lights off. His window is open and five small balls of light seem to be coming in through the window. A yo-yo and bat rest on the window seal.

Archie Smith, Boy Wonder by Jonathan Briskman
In 1826, Archie stepped on board a boat. The sailor made the boat start moving very fast. In about five hours the boat reached land. There was a rain forest, and it had in the distance about 20 cabins. Archie owned the biggest one. The trees in the rain forest were so close together you could walk from tree to tree and climb one. Then you could run across branches and avoid tigers and other beasts. Archie built a house on the trees in a week. Archie sold his old cabin for four dollars and moved in. On his first night in his house he saw lights at his window. Every night Archie saw the flashes. On his twenty first day in the trees, he went outside to see what the flashing was. Archie saw a boy. The boy dropped something and ran. Archie found the thing the boy had dropped. It had buttons and a hole made with glass. Archie looked through the hole. Click! Archie lowered the thing that he was holding to his eye. Che-ching! A picture of the trees came out. Wow! It was the same scene he had seen through the glass. Archie named it a camera.

The House on Maple Street
Picture Description: The House on Maple Street shows a two-story house that looks more like a rocket as it is lifting off it's launching site. Other homes are on each side, and a car is parked outside on the curb. It is nighttime with stars twinkling above.

The House on Maple Street by Kathleen DelGrande
One day there were two people outside of their house. I could see them from my bedroom window. There was some kind of sign in their yard. I couldn't see it that well. So I said to myself, I'll check outside to see what kind of sign it was. So I went outside and the sign said, "House for Sale!" I turned around and said, "I can't believe they are moving. They've lived there for 50 years. Why would they want to sell it?"

So I turned around and walked back to my house. I told my parents. Pretty soon we all went to bed. The next morning my parents woke up before me. When I woke up, I went downstairs to eat breakfast. After they ate breakfast, my parents said,"We have decided to see why they are moving." I said, "That's a great idea."

So we got dressed and went to the neighbor's house. We asked them why they were moving. They said, "For one thing, we can't find our dog. For another thing, we've heard creepy noises in the nighttime."

"Can we sleep over to see for ourselves?" my parents asked.

"That's fine." So they led us to the guest room.

After that, they showed us around. At 12:00 p.m. we had lunch, then we had cookies, which were delightful. After a few hours, we all went to bed. We fell asleep really fast. After three hours, a clanking noise woke us up. We really wanted to scream, but we didn't. It stopped after a few minutes. We were relieved, so we fell back asleep. The next morning we told the people that we heard the noise last night.

The people said, "We did too!"

"Are you sure that your dog isn't in the house?" I asked.

They said, "We never let the dog out except for that one time, but we found him then. This just started last week. We were going to bed. Our dog was on the bed. We fell asleep and the next morning the dog was gone. We didn't know what happened to him." I said, "Let's see who's making the noise tonight."

So we agreed on it. The next night we stayed in the guest room. We all waited for the noise. Finally, the noise came. We all took a big deep breath and opened the door together and it was the dog. The family was so happy. They gave their dog a big big hug. So they finally had a chance to sleep. The next morning they all woke up at the same time. They were all relieved that they could now take their "House For Sale" sign down. We were all happy.