Chris Van Allsburg was born in 1949 in Michigan and moved around as a child. He studied sculpture in college but became an author and illustrator after being encouraged by his wife and an editor. He lives in Rhode Island with his family and works in his studio, coming up with ideas from his surroundings. Some of his books are connected to his dreams, and he thinks a good story has an engaging plot and characters.

1. By: Marisa Thompson

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

3.  Chris moved a lot when he was young. He
walked to Breton Downs School everyday until
he was in 6th grade.

4. 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.

5.  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.

6.  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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

10. HOW IS HIS BOOKS CONNECTED
WITH HIS DREAMS?
Chris’s books are
connected with his
dreams because he
dreams a lot about his
books.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. They were similar because they each
had problems that needed to be
solved. They were different because
they all had different plots.

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