Mal día en Río Seco

by Chris Van Allsburg

Río Seco era un pueblecito que nadie visitaba y del que nadie salía nunca, hasta que una mañana el comisario, "Bravo" Ned, vio un extraño destello que venía del oeste. Cada vez que aparecía la misteriosa luz, casas y personas eran atrapadas por una sustancia pegajosa. "Bravo" Ned decide averiguar de qué se trata y cabalga hacia el horizonte.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction, Westerns, Art, Mystery

29 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 1995

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is groundbreaking in the way it's told. How unusual for a story to still be able to surprise and charm me. Good ol' Chris Van Allsburg - genius.

At first, I didn’t like this. It’s a western about a sheriff in an old west town, not my genre. The artwork was simply black lines and I was offended by that at first and I was thinking I would give this 2 stars simply for the poor artwork. Then the story went on and I realized the art is part of the story in such a clever way. I haven’t seen anyone do this and I am tickled at this story. I am glad I kept reading.

Spoilers:





So, we see a stage coach come in covered in what looks like red scribble crayon. The people are terrified and horrified. There is color in this black and white. It’s then obvious that this is a coloring book and we see what happens when the page is not open in these people’s lives. Oh man, this was fun and well done. I would love to see how quickly kids pick up on this and their reaction to it. To bad my niece and nephew are too old now and quarantined.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the first purchases I ever made when I became an elementary school librarian. For my lessons, I like to do author studies. We did Chris Van Allsburg for fourth grade. I read this book aloud, booked talked the rest, and then the kids read their choices. Chris Van Allsburg is an author they don't naturally choose, but always love once they're introduced to him. Third and fourth graders especially love the "mystery" of this one.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Van Allsburg demonstrates his genius with this book. He broke out of his comfort zone artistically by abandoning his sculpture-like illustrations (until the end) and crafted a pen and ink style coloring book. Of course, the beauty is in the tale as we see scribbles all over. What a unique perspective! This is so different.

A must read for any Van Allsburg fan!

I had not read this before, but I was aware of the coloring that is in the book. The librarian at the public library was not. She was concerned with all the scribbles. I explained that it was part of the book. I showed her the "money shot", but she said that only explained some of the coloring. Sigh . . . She marked the book as damaged so I wouldn't be held responsible for it when I returned it. Unbelievable!

[Bant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right up my alley. A little silly. A western. Deeply meta. Love!

[Kendall Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely wonderful introduction to metanarrative for children.

[Katie Gomez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit I have passed over this book many times at the library due to the cover but I am glad that I finally gave it a chance because what a fun read! Bad Day at Riverbend is about a quiet little town that starts experiencing an outbreak every time a bright light shines in the sky. Excitement builds in the black and white pages and town as it is slowly infected with shiny greasy slime. This book would fit the post modernism category and can be used in the classroom in many ways. It has a metanarrative that many students may not have had the chance to encounter yet. The scribbling illustrations is another interesting point to the story and one that students can build a connection between the scribbles on the page and the sense of fear and unrest experienced by the characters. I recommend this book because it is an engaging quick read for you and your students. Chris Van Allsburg takes the reader on a surreal journey that leaves you wondering what happens to the fictional characters of the worlds we read about and explores the link between us and them.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever! I loved the scribbles in the inside covers! It set off massive alarms with library folks! But soooo much fun!

[Abril G. Karera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oro.

[Shayla Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was interesting. I thought I would not like it based on the cover but I remembered to not judge a book by its cover. I read it and really enjoyed it. It is about a small town called Riverbend. Nothing happens in this town until one day a stagecoach came to town and the horses had some slimy stuff on them that no one could explain. As the sheriff continued to look into this the town and some people are also found with the same slimy stuff on them. The ending will surprise you as I did not expect it. I would use this book to read to my class (3rd grade) to let them know that endings of stories that they write do not have to be predictable. I would then let them write their own endings to their stories in order to see if they can surprise the reader.

[Shannon (That's So Poe) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an amusing children's book that adults will enjoy reading. It takes a serious problem that the western town of Riverbend is facing - some awful oily substance that is suddenly appearing and covering people, horses, buildings, and scenery - and follows the Sheriff as he gathers a posse and tries to track down and stop it. As the adult reader, you have an outside understanding of what is going on and can enjoy the juxtaposition of the silliness of the situation with the seriousness of it for the characters. I found it cute and silly, but not necessarily too much past that, with fairly simple drawings (of course on purpose).

[Kristin Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book with interesting illustration. It seems that the illustrator used pictures that his daughter scribbled on, as in the story it shows the daughter coloring pictures that was used in the story. Due to this, most illustrations were black and white like a coloring book, with several pictures have scribbles of color on them. The fact that Chris Van Allsburg got his inspiration for this story from his daughter is very cool. Children can learn a lesson of bravery from the story and tap into their own imaginations.

[Alexis Medrano · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. It seemed as tho it was an attempt to demonstrate as if a child was the one coloring in the horses with scribbles, but the drawings were not interesting and it just looked sloppy with the red scribbles, which were the only sources of color while everything else in the drawings was just black and white. Each page also had long drawn out paragraphs that would easily lose kids attention and would feel long to where a child could get lost and confused or simply uninterested.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a FUN ending to another wonderful book. I knew from the beginning something was awry because Van Allsburg’s beautifully detailed drawings were missing. He built suspense as the pages turned. Could be used for writing strategies, leaving the reader wanting more, or reading strategies of predicting and inferring. Great story!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheriff Ned Hardy presides over the town of Riverbend where nothing ever happens — no one ever comes to Riverbend and on one ever leaves. Until one day, the stagecoach pulls into town covered in a greasy slime. Sheriff Ned takes off to find the stagecoach driver and when he returns, the town speaks of a paralyzing light and more greasy slime.

Kids love this book and its surprise ending.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your typical western. There is a mysterious light which seems to affect more and more people, horses, cattle, and buildings with a strange goo. Is it a deadly disease? Is it drought? Children will enjoy the plot twist at the end and might be inspired to look at their coloring books in a new way.

[Gabrielle Stoller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was about to rate this book a one star. Indeed, I thought it was terrible. The illustrations look like scribbles. Indeed, you could feel like a child had scribbled through a library book.

But then I got to the end. After discovering that it's the story of a little boy coloring in his cowboy coloring book......all of it made sense. Somewhat. I still don't appreciate it.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite of Chris Van Allsburg's books. None of the usual "strangeness" in this book. Turns out to be a kids coloring book.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see this story being turned into a movie. You do not realize what is going on until halfway through the book, and then you laugh, wondering how it will end.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riverbend is a nice little town...with no color. What is causing all this greasy color??

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Readers will infer what is happening in the Western town of Riverbend. Answer revealed in the end.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

So clever!! No surprises there, it's Van Allsburg after all. But this is sooooooo different and yet again it stops you - makes you look at the picture book in another light.
Simply fantastic - again.

[Delaney Nuckols · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great example of the marriage between pictures and text.

[Abby]

Allows students to use their imagination to draw conclusions.

[Rebecca Caufman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters in a coloring book are preplexed by the color that enters their town.

[Ashley Poll · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a longer book, a great read for upper elementary students to use their critical thinking skills and discover what is happening at Riverbend.

[Jesse Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book, Bad Day at Riverbend, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg is a delightful post-modern children's book that takes a look at what life would be like for living breathing illustrations in a coloring book. The residents of a small western town are dumbfounded when a bright light paralyzes them and then suddenly things are covered with a greasy slime. The sheriff and townspeople are perplexed by what is happening. The greasy slime starts showing up everywhere. As they form a posse and head off to fight this mysterious thing they come across a crudely drawn cowboy that is just a stick figure. As they are about to try and fight this thing the lights go out. The child that has been drawing in the coloring book closes the book to go off to play soccer. It is really interesting to think of how these characters are so impacted by something beyond their understanding. It is equally cute and horrific. This reminds me a bit of Toy Story mixed with the West World series. I would use this book with my students to teach perspective, foreshadowing and to introduce post-modern text.

[Lucasjacks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Bad Day at Riverbend is a story centered around a town and its sheriff where strange things starts to happen. This strange thing is different people, animals, and objects start to have colored wire, and lines on them that they cannot get off. The sheriff tries to find out the cause of this issue that is plaguing the people and the town. He goes out and tries to find a missing person and starts to discover more of these lines, and when eventually comes back the people and the town are now covered in colored lines. Where the reader eventually finds out that these characters are apart of a coloring book that a child is coloring in.
I think this book offers teach a unique opportunity in the classroom. To show different realties and such within a simple book. But to also show students an example of a postmodern book. This would probably work best within K-4 to most relevant to the students. Also to be sued during story time and some kind of analysis of the book for students to better understand what was read.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conecta la edición con la narración, un trabajo colaborativo entre padre e hija, con pistas y una creciente acción que te llena de intriga para llegar a un punto donde la realidad supera a la ficción (literalmente). Recomendada para introducir a jóvenes a la lectura, para que vean los libros no son una regla, mas bien un vasto mundo que explorar y experimentar de tantas maneras.

Connects the book’s edition with the narrative AND is a collaborative work between father and daughter, giving us clues and progressive action that fills us with intrigue, all to end up into a point where reality overcomes fiction (literally). Totally recommended for introducing young people into reading, show them there’s many different ways to experience and explore books.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think A Bad Day at Riverbend is my favorite Chris Van Allsburg book! The illustrations are completely different than any of his other books, but he does include the twist of fate we know and love at the end. We see a mix of two artistic styles here, as well as the convergence of two completely different points of view. Both inspired and assisted by his (at the time 3-year-old) daughter, A Bad Day at Riverbend is recommended for ages 2-8. Please do yourself a favor and get your hands on this one! And try to read it for the first time with your child, delighting in the discovery at the end.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a creative book! It is very unorthodox in it's artistry, but it helped to bring the story some life. It was a tad confusing at first but when the end of the story came around it all made sense. I love the fact that the illustrations start in black and white as a coloring book would and then progresses with the color. I also find the coloring of the pictures to be very relate able to children and will spark not only imagination in them but also the drive to want to color and tap into their artistic abilities.