Sale!

Polar Express 30th anniversary edition

Amazon.com Price:  $6.83 (as of 05/05/2019 01:46 PST- Details)

Categories: , , , , , , , , ,

Description

1986 Caldecott Medal Winner

A young boy, lying awake one Christmas Eve, is welcomed aboard a magical go back and forth to the North Pole . . . 
  
Through dark forests, over tall mountains, and across a desert of ice, the Polar Express makes its way to the city atop the world, where the boy will make his Christmas wish. 
 
For millions of readers all over the world, this mysterious journey to the North Pole has change into a beloved classic. In this 30th anniversary edition, the inimitable artistry of Chris Van Allsburg is revealed in a never-before-seen fashion, with a new jacket design and expanded interior layout. Includes creator’s note, downloadable audio read by Liam Neeson, and golden “All Aboard” ornament. 
 
 

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 go back and forth with other children to the North Pole. And one couldn’t ask for a more talented artist and author 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 many award winners he’s produced. The Polar Express rings with vitality and wonder.

Amazon Exclusive: A Letter from Chris Van Allsburg

Dear Amazon Readers,

Over the past twenty-five years, many people have shared stories with me about the effect that reading The Polar Express has had on their families and on their celebration of Christmas.

One of the most poignant was told to me five or six years ago at a book signing in the Midwest, on a snowy December evening. As I inscribed a book to a woman in her sixties, she told me that it was the second copy she had owned, and wanted to know if she could she tell me what had happened to the first. “Of course,” I answered.

A dozen years earlier the woman, who had no children of her own, befriended a neighbor, a boy of about seven, named Eddie. He would frequently cross his driveway to visit her.

She had a collection of picture books, which she read to him, but around the holidays, the only story he ever wanted to hear, again and again, was The Polar Express. One year she offered to give him the book, but Eddie declined because he wanted to hear her read it aloud to him, which she continued to do every year until the boy and his family moved away.

Years later the woman learned from a mutual acquaintance that Eddie had grown up and change into a soldier. He was stationed in Iraq. Since Christmas was approaching, the woman made up our minds to send him a gift box. She included candy, cookies, socks, and her old copy of The Polar Express. She wasn’t sure what a nineteen-year-old battle-weary soldier would do with the book in an army barracks in the Middle East, but she wanted him to have it. A month later, after the holidays had passed, she received a letter from Eddie.

He told her he was very happy to have heard from her and to get the box of gifts. He had opened it in his barracks, just before curfew, with some of his fellow GIs already in their bunks. A soldier in the next bunk spotted the book. He knew it well from his own childhood and asked Eddie to read it. “Out loud?” he asked. “Yeah,” his buddy told him.

Eddie, quietly and a little self-consciously, read The Polar Express. When he’d finished and closed the book, a moment of silence passed. Then from at the back of him a voice called out, “Read it again,” and another joined in, “Yeah, read it again,” and a third added, “This time, louder.” So Eddie did.

He wrote to the woman that he’d stood up and read it to his comrades just the way he remembered she had read it to him.

All aboard,

Chris Van Allsburg

Recipes and Activities to Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of The Polar Express

(Click on Images for the Recipe or Activity [PDF])

Snacks for Santa


Candy Cane Sugar Cookies
Polar Chocolate Nougat Caramel Squares
Christmas Snowball Cookies

Fun and Games


A Polar Express Word Search
A Polar Express Crossword
A Polar Express Maze

Related products

Home » Shop » Books » Subjects » Arts and Photography » History and Criticism » Themes » Science Fiction and Fantasy » Fantasy and Magic » Polar Express 30th anniversary edition

Recent Products