12 Days of Holiday Books: The Polar Express

For over two decades, Chris Van Allsburg's book The Polar Express (32 pages, Houghton Mifflin, 1986) has been considered a Christmas classic, and is a holiday favorite with countless families, including ours. This simple, magical story of a boy who wants to believe in Santa and his journey to the North Pole about the titular train, is a beautifully illustrated tribute to the holiday season and the child in all of us.

If your only experience with The Polar Express is the somewhat overblown movie version, then you owe it to yourself and your kids to check out the Caldecott Medal-winning book, which is really much different. There's a reason it inspired a movie and countless events (like the Polar Express train rides at the California State Railroad Museum) that take place each holiday season.

The Polar Express is a perfect holiday read-aloud book, and is ideal for kids ages 4 to 8, but older kids enjoy reading it as well. My kids love reading this book every December, and I often find them looking at it in the middle of summer, too! Find it at your local Marin County library here.