The Polar Express.

VAN ALLSBURG, Chris.

Item Number: 4348

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. Signed by Chris Van Allsburg on the title page, who he has added a drawing of a reindeer. Fine in a near fine price-clipped 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.