It makes perfect sense that a strange book of odd and enchanting illustrations with mysterious captions would inspire a strange, odd, enchanting, and mysterious collection of short stories. Over 25 years ago the extraordinary illustrator Chris Van Allsburg (The Polar Express and Jumanji, among others) released The Mysteries of Harris Burdick – a book of 14 illustrations with titles and captions, nothing more or less. Now a group of extraordinary writers have gotten together to tell the stories of each of those beautiful images. The result is a wonderful collection to start as a Halloween read-aloud for kids and adults. The age range is broad so parents might want to preview the stories (none are too scary or inappropriate for young readers, but some might not make sense). I also think this is a great book for aspiring writers. It was fascinating to see the varied directions these talented professionals went in with just an image as a starting point. My favorite stories are by Sherman Alexie, Stephen King, and Cory Doctorow. ~Lillian