The Polar Express.

VAN ALLSBURG, Chris.

Item Number: 94368

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

First edition of Van Allsburg’s lushly illustrated, enchanting tale of childlike wonder and hope, winner of the 1986 Caldecott Medal. Oblong quarto, original cloth. Fine in a very good dust jacket.

The Polar Express "clearly established the illustrator-author as one of the premier creators of picture books in 20th-century children’s literature. The Polar Express, immediately taken to heart by children and adults alike, was a phenomenon in children’s publishing. It won the Caldecott Medal for illustration, appeared on the New York Times best seller list, sold more than a million copies in its first five years of publication and achieved the status of a contemporary classic Rich panel illustrations, in blues and purples, are accompanied by a narrative that achieves an exceptional sense of story Van Allsburg touches a universal chord— faith. The simple truth of the story is perceptively conveyed through a felicitous blend of pictures and narrative; the combination radiates with childlike wonder while reverberating with mysterious intensity" (Silvey, 660). It is the basis for the 2004 3D computer-animated film directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye, Jimmy Bennett, and Eddie Deezen, with Tom Hanks in six distinct roles.