Product Description

A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9121 in Books
• Brand: Houghton Mifflin
• Published on: 1985-10-28
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.50 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• Christmas Accessories
• For use with your scale model railroad

Amazon.com
One couldn't select a more delightful and exciting premise for a children's book than the tale of a young boy lying awake on Christmas Eve only to have Santa Claus sweep by and take him on a trip with other children to the North Pole. And one couldn't ask for a more talented artist and writer to tell the story than Chris Van Allsburg. Allsburg, a sculptor who entered the genre nonchalantly when he created a children's book as a diversion from his sculpting, won the 1986 Caldecott Medal for this book, one of several award winners he's produced. The Polar Express rings with vitality and wonder.

Amazon.com Audiobook Review
The Polar Express book and CD gift set is a charming collage of enchanting sounds, lyrical words, and climatic storytelling. Read by Academy Award-winning actor William Hurt, author Chris Van Allsburg's children's classic--a winner of the Caldecott Medal--is accompanied by a handsome melody and the sweet sounds of sleigh bells, train whistles, and spirited cheers from hundreds of Santa's elves. The composition stirs the listener's imagination, bringing to life the magic of Christmas. Coupled with a hardcover book (and a special gift from Santa's sleigh), listeners can read along and gaze at luminescent drawings page after page. The Polar Express touches the imagination of those "who truly believe." (Running time: 11 minutes, one cassette) --Cate Bick

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3 Given a talented and aggressive imagination, even the challenge of as cliche-worn a subject as Santa Claus can be met effectively. Van Allsburg's Polar Express is an old-fashioned steam train that takes children to the North Pole on Christmas Eve to meet the red-suited gentleman and to see him off on his annual sleigh ride. This is a personal retelling of the adult storyteller's adventures as a youngster on that train. The telling is straight, thoughtfully clean-cut and all the more mysterious for its naive directness; the message is only a bit less direct: belief keeps us young at heart. The full-page images are theatrically lit. Colors are muted, edges of forms are fuzzy, scenes are set sparsely, leaving the details to the imagination. The light comes only from windows of buildings and the train or from a moon that's never depicted. Shadows create darkling spaces and model the naturalistic figures of children, wolves, trees, old-fashioned furniture and buildings. Santa Claus and his reindeer seem like so many of the icons bought by parents to decorate yards and rooftops: static, posed with stereotypic gestures. These are scenes from a memory of long ago, a dreamy reconstruction of a symbolic experience, a pleasant remembrance rebuilt to fufill a current wish: if only you believe, you too will hear the ringing of the silver bell that Santa gave him and taste rich hot chocolate in your ride through the wolf-infested forests of reality. Van Allsburg's express train is one in which many of us wish to believe. Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Christmas Classic
I am a fan of Chris Van Alsburg and I believe that this is one of the most spectacular things he has ever written. What makes this a timeless work of art is not only the peaceful, dusk-cover pictures that evoke romantic images of the North but the precious concept of pure faith demonstrated through such a simple holiday symbol as the bell.

Classic book
This is a beautiful classic children's book. It is the perfect gift for any age.

good
You are better off purchasing the limited edition, which comes with the cassette and cd. I found the limited edition set in Marshalls (after I made this purchase), for less than what I paid for just the book. I ended up giving my nephew this book and the casette tape which came with the limited edition. I kept the cd and other book for my son, who still reads along with the cd, a month after Christmas.