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No certainly this can’t be true? Has it really been 30 years since that magical Christmas tale of a train pulling up into a young boys front yard and hurling him over hill and dale until he reaches the North Pole? Oh, with hot chocolate of course.

To my astonishment, it’s true. Thirty years later, The Polar Express has become a holiday Caldecott Medal-winning classic leaving children all over the world laying quietly in their beds on Christmas Eve, hoping to catch a ride on that magical train.

For 30 years author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg has inspired us to “believe.”

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has released a 30th anniversary edition complete with a new jacket design, expanded interior layout meaning we get to see and experience more goodness, a letter from Chris Van Allsburg, a downloadable recording of the story read by none other than renowned actor Liam Neeson and a gorgeous golden keepsake ornament.

The added benefit is that HMH has generously given Jump into a Book a copy to give away! See below for Rafflecopter Giveaway details.

Along with this good news are oodles of things to do.

Somethings To Do

Want to Ride the Polar Express

This season there are more than 50 Polar Express train rides around the United States. Riders will enjoy listening to author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg reading the book, while they drink hot chocolate, eat nougat as they travel north to meet Santa Claus. Of course there will be a jingle bell to help each traveler to “believe” in the magic of December 24th.

Now here’s the big news……The Polar Express is having a sweepstakes where one lucky family of 4 will get to journey north on the Polar Express from Durango Colorado. The Sweepstake runs from October 15-December 31st 2015. To learn more about how you can enter please visit www.polarexpress.com

One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive:

• Four tickets to ride THE POLAR EXPRESSTM Train Ride in gorgeous Durango, Colorado*
• Four round-trip airfare tickets
• Two nights in a hotel
• Four free ski lift tickets to Purgatory Resort
• A free signed copy of The Polar Express: 30th Anniversary Edition

What inspired author/Ilustrator Chris Van Allsburg to write the Polar Express?

This great interview on Story monsters will give you a up close and behind the scenes look at what inspired Chris Van Allsburg to write this classic holiday tale.

Tasty Treats From the North Pole Kitchen

You know that you get to eat everything you’re not suppose to on the Polar Express and one never gets a belly ache. Here are some favorite recipes from that magical train ride. How could we ever refuse Snowball cakes, cozy hot chocolate, or reindeer chocolate mint cookies ? Well we can’t and it’s as simple as that.

Interactive Count-down Calendar

Starting December 1st, you and your family, classroom, or community, can experience an innovative way the count down to Christmas. Each day holds a ew delight for families, such as Polar Chocolate Nougat Caramel squares, reindeer crafts, online games, mazes, and more. Be sure to go each day to find a little moment of goodness. You can find it right here.

The Ultimate Polar Express Party Kit

All Aboard !!!! Why not host a Polar Express Pajama Party? This kit has everything you’ll need to have hours of fun. Not only are there round trip tickets, but amazing games, crafts, invites, name tags, ideas about how to present the story, more amazing recipes, music, print outs and much much much more. Loads of fun.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

ONE winner will receive a copy of The Polar Express 30th Anniversary book. Giveaway begins November 19, 2015

• Prizing & samples  courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  
• Giveaway open to US addresses only
• ONE lucky winner will win one copy of each of the above books.
• Residents of USA only please.
• Must be 18 years or older to enter
• One entry per household.
• Staff and family members of Audrey Press are not eligible.
• Grand Prize winner has 48 hours to claim prize
• Winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on 12/31/15

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post The Polar Express 30th Anniversary Edition Book Review & Giveaway appeared first on Jump Into A Book.

Some of Natasha Wing's books have even ended up on bestseller lists, including the wildly popular The Night Before series.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

There comes a time in every woman’s life when she is asked to interview a childhood idol.

Put another way . . .

There comes a time in my life, say every half a year or so, when I am asked to interview one of my own childhood idols.  Most recently, that someone was Carle Honors honoree Chris Van Allsburg.  You may know Mr. Allsburg from such books as Jumanji, Polar Express, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, etc.  For me, my favorite Van Allsburg’s include The Stranger (a perfect book for this time of year, don’t you think?), Bad Day at Riverbend, and most recently Queen of the Falls.  The prospect of interviewing him at the Honors was daunting, to say the least, but I have a marvelous ability to turn off the muscle inhibiting awe-factor in my brain, so I was confident that I could do this thing.  Semi-confident at the very least.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

The Carle Honors, just to clarify, are a yearly fundraiser for The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  Now in their Eighth year, the honorees for 2013 included such luminaries as the aforementioned Mr. Van Allsburg (Artist), Lynda Johnson Robb and Carol H. Rasco of Reading is Fundamental (Angel), Phyllis Fogelman Baker (Mentor), and Barbara Bader (Bridge).  If you able to go you are privy to a wonderful array of tiny food, magnificent company, and lots of lovely pieces of art that you could bid on if you happened to have a spare $2000 or so burning a hole in your pocket.  My fantasy art piece that I would bid on if I suddenly won the lottery was a Jon Klassen piece featuring a sheep.  It was a very Klassen-esque sheep.  A dry, witty baa baa that would have made an excellent gift for my mother.  Ah well.  Next time.

Mr. Van Allsburg was not around when I arrived so I busied myself with small talk and some very successful attempts to cram large quantities of tiny food into my gaping maw.  This plan, naturally, had to reach a conclusion when Mr. Van Allsburg entered the room.  I was a bit too intimidated to accost.  Fortunately someone else was perfectly happy to accost at will, and before we knew it we were seated at a small table with my audio recorder sitting between us.  Here is what transpired.  I will take pains to cut out all the times I had to politely refuse the tiny food offered to me by passing waiters.  Apparently I’d set a precedent for myself that evening.  They weren’t about to leave me alone without a fight.

Betsy: Well, first of all thank you so much for meeting with me.  I’m a huge huge fan.  I love The Stranger.  If anybody has a one Chris Van Allsburg book that they choose, The Stranger would actually be mine. Particularly at this time of year it’s my favorite book.

Chris Van Allsburg: Where did you grow up?

BB: I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

CVA: Oh.  Not far from where I grew up.

BB: Where’d you grow up?

CVA: Grand Rapids.

BB: Oh!  Yeah, just around the corner.

CVA: That book usually finds more interest with those who grew up in the northern latitudes.  Because down south the myth of Jack Frost doesn’t exist.  They don’t know who he is.  Never heard of him.

BB: If you’re going to have that picture of him clasping his hand to his head holding a leaf they’re going to say, “And that means what exactly?”

Now these days it looks like they’re rereleasing your books.  I just got in The Wreck of the Zephyr.

CVA: Well they aren’t rereleasing them because fortunately I have not had a single title go OP [out-of-print].

BB: You’ve never had a single title?  Really?

Photo by Johnny Wolf

CVA: No, they’ve all just chugged along, year after year.  So the new edition is not bringing it back into print.  It’s a digital reproduction.  So the quality of the pictures is much better because when it was first reproduced it was old analog stuff and it never looked that good to me. The color fidelity is better and it’s sharper.  And there’s just things you can go in and do to fix it that you can’t do the old way.

BB: Now the covers, are they original covers that you’ve made or have they been taken from the book in some way?

CVA: In the case of Jumanji, that originally had a jacket that was an interior image, and so is the new one.  It’s just a different image and it’s bled, which is kind of a less traditional way to jacket a book.  I always had very old-fashioned ideas about taking a picture, putting a little white line around it and then putting a colored frame around it.

BB: The Polar Express . . .

CVA: Oh no, almost all my books were like that.  The Widow’s Broom is actually different.  But, for the most part, the jacket was laid out a lot like the inside with the addition of a little color.  But these new jackets that they’ve placed on The Polar Express. . . . well that didn’t go bleed but Jumanji looks a little more modern and same with The Wreck of the Zephyr.

BB: Are there plans to do it for other titles in the series?

CVA: Well, I don’t know. It is hard to justify because there is some expense going back and doing all the production.  And the rational, or at least, the sort of excuse for doing it. . . these last two books, Jumanji and The Wreck and the Zephyr, it’s because of their longevity.  They’ve been in print that long and so they had birthdays.

BB:  Now are they making a new Jumanji movie?  There was a rumor about that at one point.

CVA: Well, they actually did make what I thought of as a new Jumanji movie.  It’s called Zathura.

BB:  *laughs* Well, yes.

CVA: Sony actually commissioned some market research to see what the kind of residual interest in Jumanji might be and, of course, years ago the residual interest in a 20-year-old film would be really tiny.  But because of the way people consume entertainment now you can actually have a strong fan base for films that are long gone and that’s what they discovered.  That there’s a lot of people out there who would be willing to buy a ticket to a new Jumanji.

BB:  I would.  It’s absolutely true.

CVA: It can be so many different things.  It can be a remake, it can be a sequel, it can be a prequel.  So Sony still plays around with that idea but they haven’t committed themselves to anything.

BB:  One of my favorite recent books you’ve done was Queen of the Falls.  Are you going to be doing any more nonfiction in the future or was that sort of a one-off?

CVA: Well, I’d actually set on the idea of doing nonfiction before I set on the idea of Annie Taylor.  Just as a way to create new challenges and do something different.  So I decided the specific kind of nonfiction book I wanted to do was inspired by the old biographies I read when I was a child.  The biography of Babe Ruth, etc. So I was casting around for what I thought was a worthy subject.  You know, someone’s whose life would be filled with events that would be interesting to children.  There are a lot of, I suppose, characters that might apply.  Lion tamers and things like that.  Magicians.  But I read about Annie Taylor and I didn’t remember her name, but I read about her probably in the early 70s. I can remember, I worked in a little factory and they had a lunchroom where there were stacks of old Sports Illustrateds and I would read them at lunch.  And I remember one lunch hour reading this piece called “Daredevils of Niagara Falls”, and I read about a number of characters but when I read about her I was amazed because she was the first person to go over the falls . . . and she was a she!

Photo by Johnny Wolf

BB:  And she wasn’t young!

CVA: And she was over 60. So I thought, that’s such a peculiar thing.  Such a peculiar event in American history.  I mean it’s not an epic event that changed the course of the world but it’s still so strange to me.  I thought it was odd that it wasn’t more widely known.  Because if you asked people no one could have named her.

BB:  No.  No one can name the first person to go over Niagara Falls, which seems a little strange!

CVA:  So I was bewildered right from the beginning because I could remember reading about this character but I couldn’t remember anything else about it besides from that. And I thought that was such an obscure piece of knowledge, not having heard about it for 30 or 40 years, I thought it was still buried somewhere and I would have to do some really deep research.  I’d really have to work hard.  And I thought maybe I would even have to, y’know, contact Time-Life and ask if I could go into their archive.

BB:  Had an adult biography ever been made of her?

CVA: Nothing. I didn’t even know her name so I didn’t even know exactly how to search. But I was contemplating maybe, as I say, calling Time-Life and asking if there was a microfilm library of old Sports Illustrateds and I’d find it out that way.  But then it occurred to me, because this was only a few years ago, I could just go Google “woman”, “Niagara Falls”, “barrel”.  Which is all I had to do.  So I went in and there was a fair amount of information about her but I was pleased to discover that no one had written a picture book biography and the closest thing to a biography was actually a monograph.  It was a very kind of limited publication available only in a handful of libraries.  There was a long lyrical poem about her.

BB: Well I don’t want to keep you too long.  I know you’re the star of the evening here.

CVA: No, I’m not.  There’s other people here.  Jon Scieszka’s here.

BB: *laughs – sorry Jon*  Can you say what you’re working on next?

CVA: Sure!

BB: What are you working on next?

CVA: Well, sort of in the spirit of trying to work outside of what I think of as my strike zone, which is fantasy, I’ve written a book which does have some improbable action in it but not fantastic.  It is inspired by events in my own family’s life.  It’s the moment in time almost all parents face when their children beg and plead to bring into the home a small furry creature which lives in a cage and which they will shower with affection and attention.  And so we did that, but the outcome wasn’t what they promised. Even though, I think in my family, we actually sort of emphasized the need to live up to that idea of nurturing this little creature, it didn’t work out that way and the creature had various places it went to after it left our home. So I’ve written a story about the misadventures of a small furry creature who lives in a cage and has a succession of owners.

BB:  Picture book?

CVA: Oh yes.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

BB:  I wasn’t sure.  Maybe you’re suddenly doing chapter books.

CVA: Well it’s interesting.  When I sort of figured out that was what I wanted to work on, it occurred to me that usually when you write a book for kids that has a tiny animal in it, the tiny animal is a surrogate for a child. Is a proxy for a child because, children (small, powerless, not masters of their destiny) when they see little animals that are vulnerable like that, they always identify with the animal.  I’m the animal.  I’m Peter Rabbit.  But the interesting thing about this is that there is a little animal and it has the kinds of misfortunes that a child would be inclined to identify with but the characters who are visiting some of those misfortunes are children, which is another character in the book we don’t usually identify with: the children. So I’ve kind of cast the children, not as villains, but I suppose to a degree as a kind of antagonists.

BB:  Yes.  I remember in Queen of the Falls that it was straight up nonfiction but people still said, “Oh there’s a mysterious shot of the barrel in the water.”  They really wanted that mystery.

CVA: Well there was a postscript in there where I mention the fact that for most of my career as a writer I’ve been attracted to fantasy and thought I’d do something different but as I learned more about Annie and learned more about the Falls which I visited a few times I really discovered that there’s truly kind of fantastic and surreal about things like that when human beings want to seize the golden ring, when they’re sort of untethered from reason and logic and do something big.

BB:  It’s a truly American book.  No one else would think, “I know how I can make money!  I’ll throw my body over the waterfall.”

CVA: She would be an early example of too of somebody.  There wasn’t a media that would make that happen.  But there were enough newspapers that she believed that she could make it big.

BB:  And then the manager hired another woman, was it, to pretend to be her?

CVA: That was her second manager.  Because the problem was, as revealed in the book, people had fixed in their mind what a woman daredevil would look like . . .

BB: . . . and it wouldn’t look like their grandmother.  Did they ever find the original barrel?  I know that the original barrel just got taken and they never found it?  That’s a pity. For all you know there’d be Annie Taylor Societies around.

CVA: Well when I went on my tour that’s who they set me up with. I spoke in the library on the Canadian side and then an auditorium space on the American side and there was a woman who evidently works the close precincts of the falls dressed as Annie Taylor.

BB:  Really!

CVA:  And she came to lunch.

BB:  Well, I think that’s pretty much all I had.  Oh.  Just one last question I suppose.  Is there any one of your books that you feel should get more attention?  It’s one of your favorites and you’ve always really loved it and it’s never been one of the ones that people constantly talk about.  Is there any one of your books that’s closer to your heart than any other?  I know, it’s like choosing amongst your children.  Which one do you love best?

CVA: You know, it’s always the same answer from me.  It’s posed differently as “What’s your favorite book.”  And I’ll say it’s the one I’m working on.  For an artist you’re almost required to feel that way because if you thought it wasn’t quite as good as the one you did years ago, you wouldn’t keep working on it.

BB:  Or they’ll say their first book because it was their first.

CVA:  No, I don’t feel that way.  But you asked  . . .

BB:  Which one do you feel just doesn’t get enough attention?

CVA: I suppose if I could take all attention I’ve gotten a redistribute it amongst my books I might take a little attention from The Polar Express and sprinkle a little of that on A Bad Day at Riverbend.

BB:  I love A Bad Day at Riverbend!  All right.  Well so much for meeting with me!

So that was that.  Fun stuff.  After that it was back to the tiny food (round two) as well as the actual dinner.  I found myself at a truly lovely table with Ted and Betsy Lewin alongside Jennifer and Richard Michelson. Here are some photos taken of the event that might amuse.

Roger Sutton, Jon Scieszka, and Alix Kennedy just playing it cool. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Jon Scieszka and Carol Rasco. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Proof positive that Eric Carle himself was actually there. And bidding at that! You’d have to be a pretty cold fish to bid against him. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

The host-ests with the most-ests – Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi with some bloke between them. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

I won’t go into how easy it would have been to lift this little sculpture and place it in my bad. It comes with its own built-in handle, for crying out loud! Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Got to the event and then realized I’d forgotten all my make-up. True story. Seen here with Vicki Cobb. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Aww. Barbara Bader and Roger Sutton. Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Then the bells rang and we were shuffled upstairs to the actual awarding of the awards.  Since Jennifer had to leave before the speeches, Rich was nice enough to let me borrow her seat upstairs!  Awfully nice of him.

Our hosts for the evening were Angela and Tony DiTerlizzi.

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

And we were off!  Barbara Bader, if you do not know, was a longtime contributor to the Horn Book and wrote the seminal scholarly book, American Picturebooks from Noah’s Ark to The Beast Within.  She was quick and to the point.  Usually folks at these awards are.

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Next up, the daughter of Lyndon Johnson.  I honestly had no idea that Lynda Johnson Robb, Reading Is Fundamental’s Founding Board Member and Chairman Emeritus, held that distinction.  She was introduced by Paul O. Zelinsky and then proceeded to inform me of a variety of facts, none of which I had known.

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Carol Rasco, President and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental, is someone I knew far better.  Check out that awesome necklace while you’re at it.  Good stuff!

Photo by Johnny Wolf.

Next up, Rosemary Wells.  *check program*  Rosemary Wells?  Well, yes.  She was introducing Phyllis Fogelman Baker, editor and publisher, and someone who apparently had a thing for high high heels.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Unfortunately, Ms. Baker couldn’t make it.  Fortunately, it was decided that Julius Lester would do the honors.  Unfortunately (this is turning into a Remy Charlip book here) he couldn’t make it either.  Fortunately, Jerry Pinkney was on hand to read Mr. Lester’s own tribute to Ms. Baker.  And I must say, he did it like a pro.  Yes, the words “pubic hair” did consist of part of the speech, but Pinkney read on like it didn’t even matter.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Fun Fact: Do not read the words “pubic hair” aloud if your next presenter is Jon Scieszka because by GUM he’s going to find a way to incorporate it into his introduction.  Indeed, Scieszka was there to introduce Van Allsburg.  His decision then was to construct a false narrative of Mr. Van Allsburg’s past (in keeping with the tone of his books), incorporating all the various oddities folks had mentioned about the previous honorees.  It was mildly brilliant.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

You will notice that I have a penchant for picking the photos where folks spread their hands.  I cannot lie.  I really prefer them.  Here is Mr. Van Allsburg doing the deed.  By the way, doesn’t he look EXACTLY the way you’d expect Chris Van Allsburg to look?  I don’t know why but somehow, this is perfect.  And in the course of his speech he included the line I’ve made the title of today’s post.  I’m still turning it over in my mind.

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Ah, but the night was not done!  A final award was to be bestowed by our hosts and it was none other than the golden bow tie award.  These went, I believe, to Roger Sutton and Mr. Van Allsburg (one must assume in lieu of Timothy Travaglini, who was not present at the time).

Photo by Johnny Wolf

Then on to desserts . . .

Photo by Johnny Wolf

. . . and goodie bags . . .

Photo by Johnny Wolf

And the night was done.  For the record, that little Stinky Cheese Man puppet is a blast.  When you stick your fingers down his legs to make him run, his head bobs in all possible directions like crazy.  It’s incredibly amusing.  As for the bow tie, I know a nice pit bull who appreciated it.  This is true.

Many thanks to the folks at the Carle who made all of this possible.  I believe they wanted me to mention on their behalf, “We thank everyone who came out to support The Carle in its 10^th anniversary year!”  And for my part, thanks too to Alexandra Pearson for setting up the Van Allsburg interview.

For more info on the 2013 Honors be sure to check out this website as well.

In a weird way, Twitter sort of made my Fusenews posts this side of obsolete.  If you want cool things to see online it’s often just a case of knowing whom to follow.  And yet I love my little Fusenews.  Pressed as I am for time today, let’s pretend that these are little tweets:

Pinterest continues to remain a strange elusive creation that I have a hard time wrapping my head around.  Fortunately sometimes it will do something like post images from William Steig’s Agony in the Kindergarten (circa 195o) and all at once everything is clear. Thanks to Alex Penfold for the link.

And while you’re looking at vast numbers of images, why not look at this collection of international children’s art.  Purdy.  Thanks to Warren Truitt for the link.

Adrienne says, “I Can’t Imagine There Was Ever a Time in Which This Version of Little Red Riding Hood Wasn’t Creepy.” I don’t quite know what she means since I haven’t yet seen the . . . GAAAAAHHHHH!!!

• I want a new Leslie Connor middle grade novel for kids and I want it now now now now now. (This is called “baiting the universe” and should only be attempted under the strictest of circumstances.)

• Was anyone else aware that Thomas Locker died this year, or just BookMoot?  First I’ve heard of it.  Shoot.

• As per usual, the best round-up of the year is happening at Chicken Spaghetti.  If you want to see every last Best Of list printed for 2012 books, seek ye no further.

• Speaking of Best Of lists, I am not usually flummoxed by the books folks pick.  I like to think that on the children’s side I see almost everything.  So imagine my flummoxing when I check out the 100 Scope Notes Top 20 Children’s Books of 2012 and find that #20 is a book I have NEVER heard of before!?!  I am tongue-tied, stopped, and otherwise befuddled.  You win this round, Jonker, but I shall have my revenge!!

• The Bookbug children’s bookstore in Kalamazoo, Michigan does many things right.  But most recently they managed to make this remarkable little fellow:

Don’t try to buy him for your holiday shopping, though.  Apparently to make it you need to get “many different packages of legos from several different vendors.”  Worth it.

• You know how weird it was when they redid Spiderman with an all-new cast?  Yup.  Well, hold onto your hats, folks.  A children’s book is getting yet another reworking as well. From Cynopsis Kids:

Columbia looks to Zach Helm (Stranger Than Fiction, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, which he also directed, and the upcoming The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) to write a new big screen adaptation of Jumanji, based on Chris van Allsburg’s 1981 book of the same name, per THR. Matt Tolmach (The Amazing Spider-Man) will produce the new Jumanji movie. Joe Johnston directed the 1995 feature film incarnation of Jumanji, which starred Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst.

• Daily Image:

There is a giant swing installation somewhere in New York City right now.  You walk in, you sit, and you swing.

I may have missed the Columbus Circle installation but by gum I am finding this one!  Thanks to Crooked House for the heads up.

#50 The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg (1984)
38 points

This is such a great mysterious book. I love sharing this book with a group of students who think they have it all figured out. This book never fails to stop them in their tracks. After we read it, they always have a ton of questions about Mr. Burdick. There are always kids who want to write about one of the pictures included in the book. I, of course, am always happy to let them do, just that. : ) - Amy Miele

Yes, it’s better than Jumanji. – Hotspur Closser

Better than Jumanji (I concur) and I suspect its first-time placement on this list owes not a little debt to the recent The Chronicles of Harris Burdick last year.  After all, it never made an appearance on our last poll and now it debuts halfway up!  None too shabby.

The Wikipedia description of the book reads, “A fictional editor’s note tells of an encounter between a children’s book editor named Peter Wenders and an author and illustrator named Harris Burdick, who says he has 14 stories that he has written; he has brought one picture from each story with a caption. He leaves with a promise to deliver the complete manuscripts if the editor chooses to buy the books. The next day, Burdick didn’t show up. Burdick never returned to Wenders’ office. Over the years, Wenders tried to find out who Harris Burdick was, but he never found out. Burdick was never seen again, and the samples are all that remain of his supposed books. Readers are challenged to imagine their own stories based on the images in the book.”

Van Allsburg’s origin story actually involves the image in the book of the man attempting to bash a lumpy something under his rug.  When Chris was first starting out his wife took his work to New York to see various publishers.  Then she went to Boston where she met Walter Lorraine.  Lorraine took one look at the image and said “If he can get this much storytelling content into one piece of art, I know he can create a children’s book.”  So Chris got the contract, as we learn in Anita Silvey’s 100 Best Books for Children.

I’ve often said that I think it says something about a person when they name their favorite Maurice Sendak book.  Well the same certainly goes for Chris Van Allsburg.  What does it say about a person if The Polar Express is their favorite?  What about The Stranger (that’s mine)?  Or The Sweetest Fig?  Gotta watch out for those Sweetest Fig fans.  They’re trouble.  In any case, loving this book makes perfect sense and is practical to boot.  It combines the eerie Twilight Zone qualities fond in many of Van Allsburg’s books with the hint of future tales.  Little wonder that The Chronicles of Harris Burdick was as big a hit as it was (ten copies are currently checked out of my own library system).

• A musical based on the book?  Don’t be quick to scoff.  It’s out there.
• There’s a nice section on Van Allsburg’s website where stories written by kids are posted for one and all to see.  Best of all any kid can submit their own?
• Some animators had their own id
  5 Comments on Top 100 Picture Books #50: The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg, last added: 5/29/2012
  Display Comments
  Ben Collinsworth said, on 5/28/2012 9:43:00 PM
  

  Last semester my Integrated Literacy textbook highlighted Van Allsburg in a chapter on Author Studies. He’s my favorite picture book writer, so I loaded up my collection to share with my classmates while we discussed the chapter. The instructor had the same idea so between us we brought almost his whole body of work. None of my classmates had ever experienced Van Allsburg beyond The Polar Express and Jumanji, so the books caught them seriously talking. But Harris Burdick was the real show stopper. Long after the sharing and reading had given way to the lecture portion of the class, that book was passed around over and over. Exclamations of intrigue, amusement, bewilderment and terror interjected the lesson while twenty- and thirtysomethings took turns whispering “Let me see it again…” I felt like the kid who brought a snake for show and tell. Later one of them told me she’d started reading The Chronicles collection. With a few sentences and some masterful artwork, Harris Burdick created vivid memories that stayed with me since grade school. I was so glad, but not really surprised to see the same effect take place on people seeing it for the first time in adult.

  p.s. My favorite Allsburg is Two Bad Ants, but The Sweetest Fig is a very close second. What does it mean?

  rockinlibrarian said, on 5/29/2012 6:57:00 AM
  

  This book blew my mind when I first discovered it a couple years ago. It almost made my votes, but there were too many other books to choose from! But this IS my favorite Van Allsburg, so, what DOES it say about people like me?

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 5/29/2012 11:00:00 AM
  

  Simply that you have good taste. And a penchant for the unexplained and inexplicable.

  Elizabeth Bird said, on 5/29/2012 11:06:00 AM
  

  And Ben, I think choosing Two Bad Ants is sublime. Very mysterious choice. And as long as you didn’t go with Probuditi I think you’re in the clear.

  rockinlibrarian said, on 5/29/2012 1:09:00 PM
  

  Sounds about right.

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#56 The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (1985)
32 points

After hundreds of readings, I still cry at the end of this book. – Susan Lang

Perfect story, perfect pictures. – Rose Marie Moore

This is the second Christmas picture book to grace our list so far.  Now many authors will tell you that it is difficult to write a good picture book.  Many authors will also tell you that it is even more difficult to write a good holiday picture book.  And a Christmas holiday picture book that becomes a family classic?  One that wins Caldecott Awards?  Yeah.  Good luck with all that, buddy.

But he managed it.  Somehow or other Chris Van Allsburg managed the near impossible.  Long before The Hogwarts Express became the standard magical mode of transportation, Van Allsburg created a story in his customary mysterious style and made it kid-friendly, evocative, and timeless.  This isn’t the only Christmas book on this list but it certainly is the highest you will find on the Top 50.

Children’s Literature describes the plot as, “A young man tells a story of his childhood and how his belief in Santa comes to life one snowy Christmas Eve. Although his friends tell him “there is no Santa,” he still believes he will hear the bells of Santa’s sleigh. Those beliefs come true when the Polar Express takes him to the North Pole. When they come to the North Pole, Santa chooses the protagonist to be the recipient of the first gift of Christmas. The boy wants something small and meaningful: a bell from Santa’s sleigh. The bell symbolizes the belief in Santa and the spirit of Christmas, and only those who believe can hear the magical sound of the bell.”

100 Best Books for Children has much to say about Polar Express.  Apparently the art was created when Van Allsburg used pastel oils on brown paper.  The book now sells something around a quarter of a million copies annually.  100 Best Books goes on to say: “Dedicated to his sister Karen, The Polar Express shows a wonderful brother-sister relationship, one that mirrored Van Allsburg’s relationship with his own sister… Because the book can be viewed as a statement about the nature of faith, it is often read as a ritual in homes at Christmastime ‘for all who truly believe’.”  This is probably less true of the creepy CGI movie they made of it not so long ago.

The book has even inspired a real life Polar Express which takes place each year. You may read the book here.

School Library Journal said of it, “Given a talented and aggressive imagination, even the challenge of as cliche-worn a subject as Santa Claus can be met effectively. . . Van Allsburg’s express train is one in which many of us wish to believe.”

Hollywood periodically tries to adapt Van Allsburg to the silver screen with mixed results.  The Polar Express attempt burned into our brains the importance

The Toronto Librarians are on strike. There is no need to panic… Ahhhhhhhh! Failing to reach a labour agreement over the weekend 2,400 librarians went on strike. All 98 library branches across Toronto are close as of Monday. The library is asking borrowers to hold on to all checked out books and materials. No overdue [...]

One of the biggest mysteries in children’s book publishing is ‘Who is Harris Burdick?’ His name is well known among authors and illustrators but his existence is a mystery. Harris Burdick simply vanished one day leaving behind no record except fourteen drawings to prove his existence. Keep reading… Chris Van Allsburg first came across Harris [...]

Oh good.

Now we have a rallying cry. Bonus.  Thanks to Maureen Johnson for the link.

Travis at 100 Scope Notes recently discovered the author video cache to beat all author video caches.  As he puts it”I challenge you to a good ol’ fashioned game of ‘I Bet I Can Find a Video Interview of An Author You Like’.”  Apparently Reading Rockets has done everything in its power to videotape many of the major power players out there.  Your Selznicks.  Your McKissacks.  Your Yolens.  There’s a Website and a YouTube channel so take your pick!  Talk about a useful resource.

Of course, if you want to save yourself some time and trouble you can just watch this trailer for The Chronicles of Harris Burdick.  But make sure you watch it until the end.

I could live a long and happy life in the belief that Chris Van Allsburg was some kind of a criminal mastermind.  Yup.

Do all the classic children’s authors also know how to draw?  I only ask because it keeps coming up.  Tolkien drew.  J.K. Rowling can draw.  Now apparently Philip Pullman does too.  Extraordinary.

A couple thoughts on this next one.

A: Check out those guns on Katie Davis!  Wowza!

B: Yes, folks, we all know that Tuck Everlasting didn’t win a Newbery. It’s okay.

C: When I start a band I am totally calling it Weirdly Supple Crystal Ball.

Book trailer time! This one comes to us courtesy of Jonathan Auxier.  He’s even gone so far as to write a post about the Five Things I Learned from Making My Own Book Trailer.  The piece is fascinating in and of itself.  The final product?  I’d say it’s worth it.

Sort of reminds me of last year’s Adam Gidwitz 6 Comments on Video Sunday: Weirdly supple crystal balls, last added: 9/12/2011