Fantasy Book : The Polar Express

The Polar Express has to be one of my favorite books and of course movie! it’s simply a classic and a great picture book for all ages. The story is about a young boy who takes this magical train ride to the north pole on Christmas Eve (The young boy has his doubts about Christmas at first, his faith is not all there). As the train arrives to the north pole, the boy is picked out of the crowd by Santa to receive the first gift of Christmas, the boy is given a silver bell form Santa’s sleigh and the young boy is starting to realize the magic of believing. This bell isn’t any ordinary bell, it’s a magical bell if you can hear the bell ring that means you believe in the magic of Christmas, if you can’t that means you lost the faith. 

The illustrations are so beautiful and eye catching, it depicts how whimsical winter can be through the eyes of a child. The story deals with “magic” and the belief of Santa which ic great for young readers and listeners, it focuses on imagination which can become realism. The illustrations are done with oil pastels which allows for blending and highlighting making the illustration realistic and impressionistic. The colors utilized can be a little too dark or gloomy at times, but considering the polar express takes place at night it’s understandable! This book is excellent for a family read aloud during Christmas, the book can appeal to a wide range of ages to younger children to nostalgic adults (like me!) I personally would rate this book a 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, the book focuses on having faith, being kind, spreading generosity, and having hope. The words maybe hard for young readers to read, but if read out-loud it is easy to comprehend and to follow along with!

Title: The Polar Express
Author: Chris Van Allsburg
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 1985
ISBN: 9780544580145

Comments

  1. Katrin BlameyDecember 27, 2019 at 6:35 AM

    One of my favorite fantasy authors for children. Chris Van Allsburg combines beautiful illustrations with high-quality texts to foster children's imagination. This is a classic Christmas time story in my house. Chris Van Allsburg is a great author to use in the classroom to teach vocabulary words.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Natalie VanHornJanuary 2, 2020 at 9:37 AM

    This has always been one of my favorite books. I love the illustrations and the story line. It really does a great job of showing belief and hope. The movie is awesome too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rv0214January 3, 2020 at 2:10 PM

    I absolutely love this book and look forward to reading it and watching the movie with my family each holiday season. The story is beyond engaging and full of imagination. The illustrations are classical and tie in so well to the story.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Julianne ReightlerJanuary 4, 2020 at 1:02 PM

    I absolutely love this movie and I never actually thought about the book having really good literacy skills for students.I can'tWait to add it to my list of books for my future classroom.

    ReplyDelete

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