Santa's Whiskers

The Polar Express

Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express (book jacket). 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 otherworldly 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".