The Polar Express

Written and Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg

This story is about a little boy who stops believing in Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, he is awoken by a train outside of his house who picks him up with other children and are taken to the middle of the city where Santa and his elves are waiting to give out the first gift of Christmas. The boy is chosen to receive the first gift and a simple choice he made: A bell from Santa's sleigh. He realizes as he gets older, he is still able to hear the bell ring and others cannot. This is because everyone else stops believing in Santa where he does not. 

This book is considered fantasy because the plot cannot occur in the real world. A train would not magically appear in a neighborhood and Santa and his elves are characters of our imagination. 

An activity that I would use in my classroom would be to have the children illustrate what they think the train ride and meeting Santa and the elves would be like. Another activity would be to have the children write a list of what they want for Christmas because this is a Christmas children's book.

Reader Response Questions 

Would you have gotten on the train outside of your house?

What would you have chosen as the first gift of Christmas?

This book was one of my favorites as a child (and still is). The illustrations are beautiful and makes you feel like you are in the story with the characters. I love the story line because even as an adult, it makes you want to believe in Santa again. 

Chris Van Allsburg is the author and illustrator of the Polar Express. He also wrote Jumanji (which is also one of my favorite movies as a child) He was born on June 18, 1949 and is from Grand Rapids, Michigan.