Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
	List Price:   $18.95 Unit Price:   $15.16 You Save:   $3.79 (20%) ISBN-10:   0395389496 ISBN-13:   9780395389492 Publisher:   Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Houghton Mifflin Books for Children Edition:   illustrated Category:   Holiday Books, Classics Pub. Date:   October 1985 Pages:   32 Format:   Hardcover; Reinforced binding Ages:   5 to 8 Grades:   0 to 3
Awards
1986  Caldecott Medal  Winner!  1991  Buckeye Children's Book Award  Winner!  1986  Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards  Nominee/Honoree  1987  Bluegrass Award  Winner!  1988  Flicker Tale Children's Book Award  Nominee/Honoree
Subjects
CHILDREN'S FICTION CHRISTMAS_FICTION
Description/Notes
A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa. 1986 Caldecott Medal book. Full color. Late one Christmas Eve after the town has gone to sleep, the boy boards the mysterious train that waits for him: the Polar Express bound for the North Pole. When he arrives, Santa offers the boy any gift he desires. The boy modestly asks for one bell from the harness of the reindeer. The gift is granted. On the way home the bell is lost. On Christmas morning, the boy finds the bell under the tree. The mother of the boy admires the bell, but laments that it is broken - for you see, only believers can hear the sound of the bell. In strange and moving shades of full-color art, Chris Van Allsburg creates an otherwordly classic of the Christmas season. The Polar Express evokes the same sense of mystery as his previous imaginative books, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Jumanji, and The Wreck of the Zephyr. 'As always, the forms are sculptured, the perspectives as dazzling as they are audacious, the colors rich and elegant, the use of light and shadow masterly.' 'The sumptuous pastel effects-train lights seen through falling snow and a vertiginous overhead view, from Santa's sleigh, of his popular city-make this one of Van Allsburg's most treasured visions.' Whisked aboard the Polar Express to the North Pole on Christmas Eve, a young boy gets to receive the first gift of Christmas. Caldecott Medal winner, 1986. 'The Polar Express is magic indeed.' 'On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound -- a sound a friend had told me I'd never hear -- the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh. 'There is no Santa,' my friend had insisted, but I knew he was wrong. Late that night I did hear sounds, though not of ringing bells. From outside came the sounds of hissing steam and squeaking metal. I looked through my window and saw a train standing perfectly still in from of my house.'Copyright (C) 1985 by Chris Van Allsburg. All rights reserved. 'Even the most hardened Santa doubters might find in The Polar Express the faith to believe again.' '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. Van 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.'