October 16-22, 2003

artpicks

Chris Van Allsburg

books

Maybe Robin Williams creeped you out more than the black holes of Jumanji, the film based on the illustrated novel of the same name. (Perhaps Tom Hanks will take on The Polar Express with less googly-eyed intensity.) These works -- like The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, The Wretched Stone and The Z Was Zapped -- are whimsical takeoffs from the mind and pen of illustrator/author Chris Van Allsburg. His daydream nightmarish sketches and paintings have become de rigueur for perusing alongside avid young readers allied to Harry and Lemon. But Van Allsburg's gripping crises -- while maintaining their grand, twinkly look -- have the feel of harrowing action, making his books an equal fusion of Fritz Lang, Stanley Kubrick and Edward Gorey, with visuals that match the heft of his text. His recent Zathura, then -- the sequel to Jumanji -- has the colorful jungle glare of its predecessor. But in the charcoal pencil rendering, the Budwing family faces dark gravity and constant fear. Meteor showers, plum-colored planets and murderous robots help the gloomy atmospheric pressure along. But it's the black tones of Van Allsburg's strokes that force readers into the corners of imagination. —A.D. Amorosi

Chris Van Allsburg reads Sat., Oct. 18, 4 p.m., free, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341.

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