The Polar Express

Allsburg, C.V. (1985). The polar express. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. 

Texas Bluebonnet Award, 1987 - 1988

The Polar Express is probably one of Chris Van Allsburg’s most well known books.  It features a boy who awakens on Christmas Eve night to discover a magical train outside his window.  He boards the train and accompanies several pajama clad children to Santa’s workshop at the North Pole.  Once there, Santa chooses one child from the train to receive the first git of Christmas, and he picks the boy.  The boy selects a silver sleigh bell as his gift and places it in his robe pocket.  Back on the train, he realizes the bell has fallen through a hole in his pocket.  But the next morning, as he and his sister Sarah open presents, they discover a mysterious package from Mr. C. and find the sleigh bell inside.  When he shakes the bell, only he and Sarah can hear it ring because they believe; his parents cannot hear it.  Through the years he still hears the bell chime because he truly believes, but Sarah and his friends are no longer able to hear it.

Chris Van Allsburg accompanies this beautiful Christmas story, now a classic, with equally striking illustrations.  Like in his other books, his illustrations are very realistic and contain a lot of depth and texture.  Most impressive is his ability to capture light in his artwork, making it seem even more lifelike.