Like the other Chirs Van Allsburg stories that I have read The Stranger is very similar. This book is about a stranger coming to live with a family on their farm, but strange things start to happen. After hitting a strange man with his truck farmer Bailey takes in the man who has lost his memory from the accident. Bailey brought the stranger along to the fields with him to work, the stranger never grew tired and this is part of the reason Bailey liked him so much. However, as time went by the weather was not changing, it seemed to be staying summer forever. The stranger went to the highest hill and looked around. He was surprised to see that the trees not on the farm were orange and red, like fall, but the trees around him were still green. This puzzled the stranger and it stayed with him until he decided to leave the farm. As soon as he left fall seemed to hit the farmhouse immediately.
Although this book is obviously fiction, with the seasons stopping just around their house, I don't think that this would be a good choice for an elementary school setting. I feel this way because in today's society there is so much emphasis on stranger danger and staying away from people the kids don't know. In this book there was an accident an the man lost his memory, so the farmer brought him in. No matter how bad the situation is, I don't think we want to be sending out this message to our students.
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