Chris Van Allsburg’s Followers (1,127)

Chris Van Allsburg

Born

in Grand Rapids, Michigan, The United States

June 18, 1949

Website

http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com

Genre

Children's Books

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Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, 1949, the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947.

Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (and made the other products) they delivered it to homes all around Grand Rapids in yellow and blue trucks.

When Chris was born, his family lived in an old farm house next door to the large brick creamery building. It was a very old house that, like the little house in Virginia Lee Burton’s story, had once looked over farmland. But by 1949, the house was surrounde Chris was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on June 18, 1949, the second child of Doris Christiansen Van Allsburg and Richard Van Allsburg. His sister Karen was born in 1947.

Chris’s paternal grandfather, Peter, owned and operated a creamery, a place where milk was turned into butter, cream, cottage cheese, and ice cream. It was named East End Creamery and after they bottled the milk (and made the other products) they delivered it to homes all around Grand Rapids in yellow and blue trucks.

When Chris was born, his family lived in an old farm house next door to the large brick creamery building. It was a very old house that, like the little house in Virginia Lee Burton’s story, had once looked over farmland. But by 1949, the house was surrounded by buildings and other houses. Chris’s father ran the dairy with Chris’s three uncles after his grandfather Peter retired.

When Chris was three years old, his family moved to a new house at the edge of Grand Rapids that was part of a development; a kind of planned neighborhood, that was still being built.

There remained many open fields and streams and ponds where a boy could catch minnows and frogs, or see a firefly at night. It was about a mile and a half to Breton Downs School, which Chris walked to every day and attended until 6th grade, when the Van Allsburg family moved again.

The next house they lived in was an old brick Tudor Style house in East Grand Rapids. It was a street that looked like the street on the cover of The Polar Express. The houses were all set back the same distance from the street. Between the street and the sidewalk grew enormous Elm trees whose branches reached up and touched the branches of the trees on the other side of the street. Chris moved to this street with his mom, dad, sister, and two Siamese cats. One named Fafner and the other name Eloise.

Chris went to junior and senior high school in East Grand Rapids. He didn’t take art classes during this time. His interests and talents seemed to be more in the area of math and science.

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Combine Editions
Chris Van Allsburg’s books

Average rating: 4.24 · 367,734 ratings · 13,292 reviews · 56 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Polar Express 4.32 avg rating — 248,076 ratings — published 1985 — 165 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales 4.06 avg rating — 34,976 ratings — published 2011 — 32 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Jumanji 4.04 avg rating — 30,346 ratings — published 1981 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mysteries of Harris Burdick 4.49 avg rating — 7,107 ratings — published 1984 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Widow's Broom 4.28 avg rating — 5,272 ratings — published 1992 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Garden of Abdul Gasazi 4.04 avg rating — 4,447 ratings — published 1979 — 38 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Queen of the Falls 3.90 avg rating — 4,466 ratings — published 2011 — 21 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sweetest Fig: A Mysterious Fantasy Picture Book About Dreams Becoming Reality for Children (Ages 4-7) 4.18 avg rating — 3,448 ratings — published 1993 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Stranger 4.08 avg rating — 3,490 ratings — published 1986 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Two Bad Ants: A Whimsical Picture Book About a Kitchen Adventure for Kids (Ages 4-7) 4.07 avg rating — 3,372 ratings — published 1988 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Chris Van Allsburg…

Series by Chris Van Allsburg

Jumanji (2 books)
by

Chris Van Allsburg

4.02 avg rating — 33,720 ratings

Quotes by Chris Van Allsburg (?)

“At one time, most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe.”
― Chris Van Allsburg, The Polar Express

tags: believe, bell, christmas, old, young

166 likes

“The inclination to believe in the fantastic may strike some as a failure in logic, or gullibility, but it’s really a gift. A world that might have Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster is clearly superior to one that definitely does not.”
― Chris Van Allsburg

76 likes

“Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see.”
― Chris Van Allsburg, The Polar Express

tags: childrens-books, christmas

55 likes

See all Chris Van Allsburg's quotes »

Polls

December 2016 Short Story Poll

The Birds by Daphne du Maurier, 75 pages, 1952

60 votes, 23.2%

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, 32 pages, 1845

45 votes, 17.4%

The Pearl by John Steinbeck, 97 pages, 1947

41 votes, 15.8%

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, 32 pages, 1985

36 votes, 13.9%

Jerusalem's Lot by Stephen King, 47 pages, 1978

28 votes, 10.8%

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, 108 pages, 1872

19 votes, 7.3%

Flush by Virginia Woolf, 118 pages, 1933

18 votes, 6.9%

Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth, 87 pages, 1800

6 votes, 2.3%

Dora Bruder by Patrick Modiano, 123 pages, 1997

4 votes, 1.5%

The Man With Night Sweats by Thom Gunn, 96 pages, 1992

2 votes, 0.8%

259 total votes

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