Chris Van Allsburg - The Polar Express: Gift Set

I have always loved reading, and children's stories in particular. I took a college course in Children's Lit, and loved it. After getting my undergraduate degree in Special Education, I went and got my master's degree in Reading. Children's books have always had a strong place in my heart. I am a firm believer in reading to children, and letting them experience the joy of literature at any age.

Chris Van Allsburg continues to be one of my favorite authors, ever since I first read this book. He illustrates all his own books, something I have a lot of respect for as I can barely hold a pencil and create a crude stick figure.

The Book

The Polar Express is a beautifully illustrated children's story about the magic of Christmas, and a magical train ride a child goes on to experience all the wonder Christmas holds. It comes as a 32 page, fully illustrated hardcover book, published in 1985 originally. Many of the illustrations are very detailed, though with darker shades, in line with the story being told about a "night" in December.

The story is about a boy who is unsure whether to believe in Christmas and the sound of Santa's sleigh bells when he arrives. The outline of the story is one where a Christmas train shows up one Christmas eve and picks up the small boy - only to find out there are other children that have been (and are being) picked up by the same train - to take them to the North Pole. There are some experiences he has on the train, and then at the Pole Santa asks the boy what he would like as a gift. The boy selects one of the bells off Santa's sleigh, and on the train ride back he loses the bell through a hole in his pocket. Saddened, the boy returns home and awakes Christmas morning to find the bell wrapped under the tree with a note. As he shakes the bell and hears the beautiful sound his Mom comments that it's sad that he has a gift of a broken bell ... you see his Mom has already lost the belief in Christmas and therefore cannot hear the beautiful ringing that the boy can hear. Since the boy always believes, he grows up always hearing the bell.

The appeal to adults is that it reminds you of days past, of hopefully happy memories of Christmas's when you were a child, and wonderment in what happened to that magic that you once believed in and held dear.

I bought this book for my mother years ago for Christmas, and she read it for the first time and cried. She then turned around and purchased this gift set for my children, with the intention of reading it to them every holiday season. She has never been able to read the story with a dry eye ... and I must admit due to this every time I attempt to read it to my children the same thing happens.

The Set

Besides the book, the gift set comes with a CD and a taped version of the story. While these are nice, they never really have interested my children. I think they strongly prefer hearing us read it to them. The story is read by actor Liam Neeson, and I do agree though it was a nice choice as his voice carries the story very well and the whole thing sounds very soothing overall.

The gift set also comes with a bell just like the one from the story on a red satin "Santa's" ribbon. This bell makes my mother sob every time, and even I must admit the very first time she read this story to my son at an age where he was verbal and understanding the "message", and shook the bell, his reaction was priceless.

" I can hear it Grammy!"

Overall

This story is a children's and family classic. We own many children's books in both soft and hardcover, so this set was not an unusual purchase or thing to have. I highly recommend it for family's that want to share the Christmas magic with their children, and for those older family members that need reminders of the season.

"At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe."