Fantasy

·     The Polar Express written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg

o   Suggested Grade Level: 2^nd grade. This is a picture book with a lot of words. It may be too long for a 1^st grader, but I believe that it is perfectly suitable for a 2^nd grader.

o   Summary: In The Polar Express, our unnamed protagonist argues with a friend over whether or not Santa Claus is real. On Christmas Eve, he stays awake to listen for Santa’s sleigh bells. What he hears instead in the Polar Express, a magical train that whisks children away to the North Pole, where Santa will give out the “first gift of Christmas.” When the children finally arrive, the main character is chosen to receive the first gift. He asks for and receives one of Santa’s sleigh bells. This bell is a magical bell, one that can only be heard by a select few. While his friends and even his sister can no longer hear the bell, he continues to hear it and believe.

o   Classroom skills and strategies:

§  This book can be used to encourage students to use their imagination and to think creatively. Students could be asked to write their own Christmas/Holiday/Fantasy story after reading the Polar Express.

§  This book can be used teach students about imagery in literature.

o   ESOL strategies/applications

§  Illustrations: The illustrations in this book could be used to sequence the text. Students could also summarize or write their own version of the story to go along with the illustrations.

§  Group reading: The rhythm and flow of this text would be perfect for chorale reading.

o   Read aloud: The whole book (you just have to read the whole thing).

o   Personal opinion: I absolutely love this book. The illustrations are beautiful and the text is magical. The story itself is such a simple fantasy, and yet it has captured the hearts of readers everywhere. This is a Christmas staple for me, and I really enjoyed being able to read it for class.