A. The Polar Express
B. Chris Van Allsburg
C. Chris Van Allsburg
D. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985
E. Picture book, fiction
F. 2-5
G. The Polar Express is a beautiful story about Christmas spirit. It's the tale of a young boy who in the beginning is not sure whether or not Santa exists. Then one Christmas Eve, a train pulls into his front yard that carries him to the North Pole. There, he meets Santa who gives him a bell off of his sleigh. Unfortunately, the bell falls through the boy's pocket because there is a hole. On Christmas morning, the boy finds a small box with the bell inside. Even after many years, the bell still rings for him because he has not lost his faith in Santa.
H. One can't help but love The Polar Express. There's always something so magical about stories involving holidays, especially Christmas. I've also seen the movie but even though there are so many more levels to the movie, I like the book better. The imagery Van Allsburg uses is so beautiful and it allows the reader to form their own world in their mind. I love the words he uses to describe everything from the "apron of steam" that shrouded the train to the hot chocolate that was "as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars."
One thing that really stood out to me as I was reading and looking at the illustrations is how similar the book is to the movie in terms of illustrations. In the train (in the book), I can see many of the characters from the movie sitting in the seats. I'm really glad to see that the animators for the movie paid that much attention to detail to try to get everything right, down to the colors of the kids' pajamas. The similarities are remarkable!!
However, my favorite favorite favorite part is the last page. Those last three sentences are so eloquent and state so beautifully the faith that one has to have in something. How much happiness it can bring to a person to believe in something that others have long forgotten.
I. This is a great Christmas-time story for any classroom. I would even read it in upper grades.
The major lesson in this story is the lesson of faith and believing in something. The great thing about this is that it can be applied to anything. That bell can represent anything of importance. It would be great to talk to kids about their own beliefs about Santa Claus and then lead that into beliefs about other things. You could lead a discussion about beliefs that students have that perhaps others don't share and why those beliefs are important to those students.
*Caldecott Medal Winner*
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2 comments:
Thank you for commenting on the "marriage" between the text and illustrations; my sense is you prefer his colored illustrations to the black/white. Am I right?
I don't know, I think they each have their own special qualities. I do love color but sometimes the black and white seem to add to the mystery that surround most of Van Allsburg's works.
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