"The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg is one of two books we own by him, and it's the tale of a young boy who feels like he's beginning to question the very existence of Santa Claus. Surely he can't be real?
One night before Christmas as he's settling down to sleep, a strange noise wakes him, and he stares out of his window in disbelief at what he sees. A train, in his street, pulled up and ready to take on passengers.
He dashes down in his dressing gown to find out what's going on, and is soon whisked aboard The Polar Express on a return journey to the North Pole, to see Santa himself and all his elves. It's a beautifully constructed tale with the sort of art that instantly draws kids (and adults like me who LOVE hugely detailed art) right into the story. It's stayed with us all these years, and now even as C feels increasingly just like the main character in the story, whenever we get a Lindt reindeer with a tinkling little bell on it as a Christmas pressie, we can't resist giving it a tinkle just to see if we still believe...Beautiful, absolutely beautiful stuff and I know so many other book bloggers hold this one dear.
We have very strong opinions on how disastrous the 'second version' of this book was (the one where famous literary luminaries gave their own 'take' on each of the images / stories alluded to in the original book. But the original is a work of genius, and I think it was the first time that C understood and embraced the concept of surrealism.
Each image comes with a short sentence or two. The words don't describe the image exactly, but give the mere whiff of a story behind Chris's gorgeous, haunting and hypnotic illustrations.
For a child this is like catnip as they then take on the role of storyteller themselves, describing their own imaginative 'take' on what has happened, what is happening, and what's about to happen in each case.
We've read this one many times, and C's interpretations often change which is quite interesting. Without getting into a deep philosophical debate about books like this, they achieve something that I really wish I'd seen more of in kidlit, letting kids 'own' the stories themselves (Shaun Tan - Who will feature in this list later on substantially - is another author who has a knack for giving the faintest whiff of a story for kids to let their imaginations loose on too).
Both books are things of beauty and it's also worth noting that in the case of "The Mysteries of Harris Burdick" it's one of the few children's books that purposely chooses a largely monochrome palette for its illustrations and I think this also gives it that weird air of mystery and atmosphere that kids will immediately be intrigued and stimulated by.
Original reviews:
The Polar Express
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick