The Polar Express

Author & Illustrator:  Chris Van Allsburg, 1985, Houghton Mifflin

The Polar Express is an excellent example of  Fantasy literature.  Every child has probably dreamed about the North Pole and Santa's Workshop, and this book brings that dream to life.  The main character wakes up to find a train outside his house ready to pick him up for the journey North.  Along the way, they pass under bridges, through forests, and over bodies of water.  Nothing can prepare the travelers for what they find at the North Pole that Christmas Eve.  Santa and his elves are ready and waiting for the clock to strike midnight so that they can deliver the presents they have been creating all year, but they are also looking forward to the children's visit.  The main character receives Santa's first gift that year, which is a bell from one of the reindeer collars.  He loses it on the train ride home, but Santa puts it in its place under the tree for the next morning.  Though the adults have lost the ability to hear the bell (they no longer believe), this child will always hear the special sound because he actually met Santa. 

I regard this story as a Christmas classic.  It makes me feel happy, gives me images for what I have always pictured in my head, and provides me with amazing illustrations.  In case you hadn't noticed, the author and illustrator are one-and-the-same.  The pictures give a look of shrouded mystery, and it helps, too, that the events take place overnight.  I not only love the book, but I also love the movie of the same title that features Tom Hanks in many roles.  This is a must-read for children of all ages, including those of us who will forever love the magic of Christmas.    

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Author:  Roald Dahl, 1964, Puffin Books (2nd ed. 1998)
Illustrator:  Quentin Blake

I would hypothesize that many of your students have at least heard of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or by a more current title:  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  This book has been made into movie adaptations, the most recent starring Johnny Depp.  I saw the 1971 version with Gene Wilder, and honestly, it was the strangest movie I had ever seen.  I believe, though, it was a somewhat accurate portrayal of the book, because the book was strange too.  Charlie is dirt poor and lives with his four grandparents and mom and dad.  The grandparents are all over 90 years old and sleep in a bed together, which they never leave. (Weird.)  Charlie is fortunate enough to find one of Willy Wonka's 5 golden tickets that allows him an inside look at Wonka's ultra-secret factory.  In his midst are four spoiled children who all end up receiving the treatment they use on others.  For example, Violet Beauregarde chews gum incessantly, and she chews one of Wonka's unperfected blueberry gums.  She expands to the size and color of a blueberry, and she has to be "stretched" out to her normal size, which ends up being very tall and thin.  The moral of her story is that too much gum is bad for you.  In the end, Charlie is promised the chocolate factory when Wonka retires because he survived the tour.  Therefore, his family never again lives in poverty and inherits an expansive chocolate empire.

This book is purely fantasy, and is, rightfully so, extremely unbelievable.  The odds that Charlie would find a golden ticket are more than impossible, and the cherry on top is his inheritance.  I did not care for the movie, and I can't say I cared for the book, either.  The descriptions are so colorful and unimaginable that you almost wonder what the author was eating when he wrote it.  I dislike the fact that the author made all the bad things happen to the wealthy children and allowed the reader to believe that Charlie had a better chance of winning because he was poor and unsuspecting.  I suppose the author was going for a "feel-good" story instead of a believable one, and he certainly achieved that.