Magic Tree's window display on Oak Park Ave. a runner-up in book publisher's contest

A little magic on the avenue

Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 10:00 PM

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Imagine that: The window display at Magic Tree Bookstore has drawn a lot of attention on Oak Park Avenue.
J. GEIL/Photo Editor

Winging it: Bethany Fort's award-winning window display at Magic Tree Bookstore is inspired by the magical illustrations of Chris Van Allsburg, in particular "The Third-Floor Window" (next slide).
KEN TRAINOR/Staff

The original book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, provided only short captions for each illustration (in this case, "It all started one day when someone left the window open"). In the sequel, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, 14 authors attempt to tell the stories behind the 14 illustrations.

KEN TRAINOR/Staff

KEN TRAINOR/Staff

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales
By Chris Van Allsburg and 13 others,
Houghton Mifflin, publisher

Imagine that: The window display at Magic Tree Bookstore has drawn a lot of attention on Oak Park Avenue.
J. GEIL/Photo Editor

Winging it: Bethany Fort's award-winning window display at Magic Tree Bookstore is inspired by the magical illustrations of Chris Van Allsburg, in particular "The Third-Floor Window" (next slide).
KEN TRAINOR/Staff

By Ken Trainor

Staff writer

It all started when someone left the imagination open.

Storefront display windows add old-world charm to the most charming block in Oak Park, the 100 block of North Oak Park Avenue. The Irish Shop windows are filled with Waterford Crystal and Belleek. Il Vicolo Ristorante offers inviting white tablecloth-covered tables. Ananas, Filoni and Nora's Shoe Shop feature fashionable fancy. Bramble invites a ramble through household knicks and knacks. Divine Consign's attempts to seduce passersby with high-end, second-hand furnishings.

And Magic Tree Bookstore, the dean of independent shops in Oak Park (27 years in business, 23 on Oak Park Avenue), displays a rotating array of seasonal children's books, pegged to the next holiday or visiting author. If you walk up and down this street as much as I do, you look forward to the eye candy, accessorizing the surrounding streetscape.

But their latest display is altogether different. A worn, multi-paned window frames the words, "It all started one day when someone left the window open." On the shelf in front of it is an open book. Paper vines seem to be growing out of bird-shaped holes carved into the pages. And those bird shapes appear to be ascending in a cloud, skyward. In their midst are strange paper-mache shapes: an old sailing ship, a nun sitting in a hard-back chair, a knife poised over a pumpkin, and a house that appears to be blasting off into space.

Not your average display window. An intriguing mystery.

Actually 14 intriguing mysteries, to those who recognize the allusions. Understanding the references means you're probably a fan of children's book illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, best known for books like The Polar Express and Jumanji. Mastery of technique married to a vivid imagination, never more evident than in his 1984 book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, which contains 14 illustrations, each of which capture a single moment in an arresting, magical fable, none of which are completed for us. They are intended instead to pique the imagination.

One illustration depicts an open window. The wallpaper covering the adjoining wall features a repeated pattern of birds in flight. One of the wings has come loose as if making a leap into the third dimension. An empty space next to it indicates that one of the birds has already departed. The caption at the bottom of the page reads, "It all started one day when someone left the window open."

"That's my favorite," says Bethany Fort, a part-time employee at Magic Tree, who is responsible for the window display, featuring birds taking off from the pages of a book. "It epitomizes the subtlety of his imagination."

The publisher of Harris Burdick (Houghton Mifflin) recently came out with a sequel. Fourteen authors — including mystery maestro Stephen King; Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked; Lois Lowry; and Jules Feiffer — take a crack at telling the stories behind the illustrations.

To promote the new book, The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, the publisher sponsored a nationwide bookstore window display contest. The winner would get a visit from Van Allsburg himself. Fort's creation didn't win, but they were named one of three runners-up, for which they will receive a complete library of Van Allsburg's books, autographed by the author.

The contest also required partnering with a local educational institution. Lincoln School agreed to host an essay contest, won by Alyssa Hirshman.

Fort moved to Chicago from Texas two years ago. In college, she was an education major with an emphasis on reading. She worked for Barnes & Noble in the city, but really wanted to work for an independent bookstore. Then she met Magic Tree owners Iris Yipp and Rose Joseph through various publisher-sponsored author dinners.

"I begged for a job," she says, and last September, they hired her.

Fort says she loves organizing book-related events and "theme-decorating." She designed a couple of windows last fall at Magic Tree, but this is her most involved effort to date.

"I worked on it for five weeks," she says. "We got it up two days before the deadline." That was Dec. 30, she says, noting that December is "the worst time to do a display window" because of holiday madness.

Fort was inspired by Sue Blackwell, an artist who specializes in incorporating books into her artwork.

"What could be better than pages of a book?" she thought.

The window came from Rose Joseph's garage.

"I wanted something three-dimensional," Fort says, "to give the display depth."

To create the cloud of ascending birds and images from the book, she rigged up marionette sticks overhead and attached fishing line. It took an entire day to put up the 30-35 strings and tape the birds to the lines so they would appear to be flying. The paper-mache objects (over wire frames) were harder to balance, "but I wanted to have more than birds," she says.

The nun in the chair, for instance, refers to the illustration titled, "The Seven Chairs." It shows a seated nun suspended in mid-air in a great cathedral. Two priests on the ground below look up in disbelief. The caption reads, "The fifth one ended up in France."

Ironically, Fort had to destroy three books in the process of creating her window display. The first was an old, decrepit copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which she discovered at a thrift store.

"It's blasphemy," Fort admits, "but I didn't think he would mind."

The second book was a relatively new technical manual.

"I wanted different textures and shades," she says, "to add more character."

The bird cutouts came from an old novel.

"It took me 15-20 minutes to find the right book," she recalls. She wanted a plain cover, no photos or illustrations inside, thick enough to cut into and big enough for the bird shapes.

She used a box cutter. "I still have slivers of paper all over my apartment," she notes.

The most elaborate shape was the old ship, which took the longest, but was worth the effort.

"I love old ships," she says.

When all was installed, they had trouble taking photos for the contest submission, what with the glare from the windows. At night, the lights from the store overwhelm the electric lights Fort imbedded in the paper-mache shapes.

She also made sure the publisher didn't get the wrong idea.

"I was afraid they would think I cut up one of Van Allsburg's books," she says.

The display has been up for two months, longer than most of their windows, but it has generated a lot of interest from passersby. Many poke their head in to ask about it or extend a compliment. One merchant from down the block asked if she would design a window for her.

Magic Tree keeps selling out their supply of the two books, so it seems to be working from a marketing standpoint.

"I'm glad it has brought attention," says Fort, who is applying to graduate school to study children's literature in the fall. "The books deserve it. Harris Burdick is my favorite. It's the most brilliant picture book I've ever seen."

I agree. In fact, five of these mysteries are framed and hanging on the walls of my apartment. Some visitors ask about them. Most don't even notice them. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case on the 100 block of North Oak Park Avenue.

All it took was leaving the window open.