Title: Bad Day at Riverbend
Author/Illustrator: Allsburg, Chris Van
Publisher and Date: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995
Genre: Picture Book, Fantasy
Author/Illustrator: Allsburg, Chris Van
Publisher and Date: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995
Genre: Picture Book, Fantasy
Age Range: K-2nd
Summary:
Riverbend is a quiet little town where hardly anything ever happens. One day however, everything changes. A mysterious “shiny, greasy slime” appears all over a coachman, his horses, and his coach. Soon the mysterious substance has spread to cover townspeople, cattle, and buildings. Sheriff Ned Hardy takes it upon himself to investigate this mystery. The only clue they have is that a bright light appears right before everything becomes covered in slime. At the end of the story the reader discovers the “shiny, greasy slime” are actually crayon scribbles and that Riverbend is located in a Wild West coloring book!
Response:
This book is so cool! The illustrations in this book are what truly set it apart. Chris Van Allsburg used computer images and crayons to create his unique illustrations. At first glance I actually thought a young child had colored in the book and “ruined” the illustrations. When I read the book, however, I figured out that these marks were an integral part of the story. One of my favorite pictures in the book is when the sheriff and his men discover the stick figure the child has drawn. They describe him as skinny as a broomstick and tall as a tree, and they actually think that he is the culprit of the mysterious marks! This book is a great read! It will keep children of ages entertained the entire way through the book. One of my favorite things about this book is that it does not have a set ending. The reader has to infer what has happened and decide an ending on his/her own. I love this because it allows the reader to think and to be creative!
Summary:
Riverbend is a quiet little town where hardly anything ever happens. One day however, everything changes. A mysterious “shiny, greasy slime” appears all over a coachman, his horses, and his coach. Soon the mysterious substance has spread to cover townspeople, cattle, and buildings. Sheriff Ned Hardy takes it upon himself to investigate this mystery. The only clue they have is that a bright light appears right before everything becomes covered in slime. At the end of the story the reader discovers the “shiny, greasy slime” are actually crayon scribbles and that Riverbend is located in a Wild West coloring book!
Response:
This book is so cool! The illustrations in this book are what truly set it apart. Chris Van Allsburg used computer images and crayons to create his unique illustrations. At first glance I actually thought a young child had colored in the book and “ruined” the illustrations. When I read the book, however, I figured out that these marks were an integral part of the story. One of my favorite pictures in the book is when the sheriff and his men discover the stick figure the child has drawn. They describe him as skinny as a broomstick and tall as a tree, and they actually think that he is the culprit of the mysterious marks! This book is a great read! It will keep children of ages entertained the entire way through the book. One of my favorite things about this book is that it does not have a set ending. The reader has to infer what has happened and decide an ending on his/her own. I love this because it allows the reader to think and to be creative!
Teaching Ideas:
I would definitely read this book in my classroom! It is such a fun story! Every child can relate to this story; I know I can! As a child I would color for hours and hours. So I thought it would be neat to let my students have a chance to color in class. A great teaching idea would be to give every child in the class a picture from a different coloring book and allow them to come up with their own story based on this picture. Then they could color the picture and share their picture and story with the class. I also love these lessons that Houghton Mifflin has come up with. Be sure to check them out!
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