- ISBN13: 9781579126230
- Condition: New
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A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa.One couldn't select a more delightful and exciting premise for a children's book than the tale of a young boy lying awake on Christmas Eve only to have Santa Claus sweep by and take him on a trip with other children to the North Pole. And one couldn't ask for a more talented artist and writer to tell the story than Chris Van Allsburg. Allsburg, a sculptor who entered the genre nonchalantly when he created a children's book as a diversion from his sculpting, won the 1986 Caldecott Medal for this book, one of several award winners he's produced.
The Polar Express rings with vitality an! d wonder.
25th Anniversary Edition Includes To commemorate this special anniversary, a lavish gift edition has been created. The set includes a silver foil border, a CD audio recording read by Liam Neeson, a note from Chris Van Allsburg, and a silvery keepsake "All Aboard" ornament.
Amazon Exclusive: A Letter from Chris Van Allsburg
Dear Amazon Readers,
Over the past twenty-five years, many people have shared stories with me about the effect that reading
The Polar Express has had on their families and on their celebration of Christmas.
One of the most poignant was told to me five or six years ago at a book signing in the Midwest, on a snowy December evening. As I! inscribed a book to a woman in her sixties, she told me that ! it was t he second copy she had owned, and wanted to know if she could she tell me what had happened to the first. "Of course," I answered.
A dozen years earlier the woman, who had no children of her own, befriended a neighbor, a boy of about seven, named Eddie. He would often cross his driveway to visit her.
She had a collection of picture books, which she read to him, but around the holidays, the only story he ever wanted to hear, over and over, was
The Polar Express. One year she offered to give him the book, but Eddie declined because he wanted to hear her read it aloud to him, which she continued to do every year until the boy and his family moved away.
Years later the woman learned from a mutual acquaintance that Eddie had grown up and become a soldier. He was stationed in Iraq. Since Christmas was approaching, the woman decided to send him a gift box. She included candy, cookies, socks, and her old copy of
The Polar Express. She wasn't ! sure what a nineteen-year-old battle-weary soldier would do with the book in an army barracks in the Middle East, but she wanted him to have it. A month later, after the holidays had passed, she received a letter from Eddie.
He told her he was very happy to have heard from her and to get the box of gifts. He had opened it in his barracks, just before curfew, with some of his fellow GIs already in their bunks. A soldier in the next bunk spotted the book. He knew it well from his own childhood and asked Eddie to read it. "Out loud?" he asked. "Yeah," his buddy told him.
Eddie, quietly and a little self-consciously, read
The Polar Express. When he'd finished and closed the book, a moment of silence passed. Then from behind him a voice called out, "Read it again," and another joined in, "Yeah, read it again," and a third added, "This time, louder." So Eddie did.
He wrote to the woman that he'd stood up and read it to his comrades just the way he! remembered she had read it to him.
All aboard,
Chris Van Allsburg
Recipes and Activities to Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of The Polar Express
(Click on Images for the Recipe or Activity [PDF])
Snacks for Santa 
Candy Cane Sugar Cookies | 
Polar Chocolate Nougat Caramel Squares
| 
Christmas Snowball Co! okies | 
Hot Chocolate |
Fun and Games 
A Polar Express Word Search | 
A Polar Express Crossword | 
A Polar Express Maze | ! 
A Polar Express Drawing Sheet |
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer.
Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man's enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.
DO YOU HAVE 20 MINUTES TO MAKE A GREAT MEAL?
In Mark Bittman’s Kitchen Express, “America’s foremost home cook†(New York Observer) presents more than 400 incredibly fast and easy recipes tailored to each season and presented in a simple, straightforward style. Bittman’s recipe sketches are the ideal mix of inspiration and instr! uction: everything a home cook needs to prepare a delicious, healthful, and cost-conscious repertoire of meals for any season and any time of day. And since they’re written with an eye for speed and flexibility, you can be cooking on a moment’s noticeâ€"just check the pantry or fridge and away you go. With Bittman’s trusted voice leading you, you’ll be in and out of your kitchen in 20 minutes or less. Bittman also includes a guide to the foods you’ll want on hand to cook the Kitchen Express way as well as suggestions for seasonal menus and lists of recipes for specific uses, like brown-bag lunches or the best dishes for reheating. You may never order takeout again!Indonesian Ferry Sinks. Peruvian Bus Plunges Off Cliff. African Train Attacked by Mobs. Whenever he picked up the newspaper, Carl Hoffman noticed those short news bulletins, which seemed about as far from the idea of tourism, travel as the pursuit of pleasure, as it was possible to get. So off he! went, spending six months circumnavigating the globe on the w! orld's w orst conveyances: the statistically most dangerous airlines, the most crowded and dangerous ferries, the slowest buses, and the most rickety trains. The Lunatic Express takes us into the heart of the world, to some its most teeming cities and remotest places: from Havana to Bogotá on the perilous Cuban Airways. Lima to the Amazon on crowded night buses where the road is a washed-out track. Across Indonesia and Bangladesh by overcrowded ferries that kill 1,000 passengers a year. On commuter trains in Mumbai so crowded that dozens perish daily, across Afghanistan as the Taliban closes in, and, scariest of all, Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., by Greyhound.
The Lunatic Express is the story of traveling with seatmates and deckmates who have left home without American Express cards on conveyances that don't take Visa, and seldom take you anywhere you'd want to go.  But it's also the story of traveling as it used to be -- a sometimes harrowing trial, of finding ! adventure in a modern, rapidly urbanizing world and the generosity of poor strangers, from ear cleaners to urban bus drivers to itinerant roughnecks, who make up most of the world's population. More than just an adventure story, The Lunatic Express is a funny, harrowing and insightful look at the world as it is, a planet full of hundreds of millions of people, mostly poor, on the move and seeking their fortunes.
From the Hardcover edition.Completely revised and updated for Logic Pro 9 and Logic Express 9, this Apple-certified guide shows you how to record, produce, and polish music files with Apple’s professional audio software. Veteran music producer David Nahmani’s step-by-step, instructions teach you everything from basic music creation to advanced production techniques using Logic’s software synthesizers, samplers, and digital signal processors. Using the book’s DVD files and either Logic Pro 9 or Logic Express 9, you’ll begin making music ! in the first lesson. Whether you’re looking to use your comp! uter as a digital recording studio, create musical compositions, or transfer that song in your head into music you can share, this comprehensive book/DVD combo will show you how.
- Â DVD-ROM includes lesson and media files
- Â Focused lessons take you step-by-step through professional, real-world projects
- Â Accessible writing style puts an expert instructor at your side
- Â Ample illustrations and keyboard shortcuts help you master techniques fast
- Â Lesson goals and time estimates help you plan your time
-  Chapter review questions summarize what you’ve learned and prepare you for the Apple Certifi ed Pro Exam
The Eden Express describes from the inside Mark Vonnegut’s experience in the late ’60s and early ’70sâ€"a recent college grad; in love; living communally on a farm, with a famous and doting father, cherished dog, and prized jalopyâ€"and the! n the nervous breakdowns in all their slow-motion intimacy, the taste of mortality and opportunity for humor they provided, and the grim despair they afforded as well. That he emerged to write this funny and true book and then moved on to find the meaningful life that for a while had seemed beyond reach is what ultimately happens in The Eden Express. But the real story here is that throughout his harrowing experience his sense of humor let him see the humanity of what he was going through, and his gift of language let him describe it in such a moving way that others could begin to imagine both its utter ordinariness as well as the madness we all share.One of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries,
Murder on the Orient Express was inspired by two real-life crimes and the author’s own experience being stranded on the Orient Express during Christmas of 1931. While traveling to Paris, a wealthy American is stabbed to death in his cabin on the Orient Express. With th! e train stuck in a snowdrift, there is no easy escape for the ! killer. Fortunately, detective Hercule Poirot is aboard and launches a clever investigation into the curious assortment of passengers, of whom each seems to have a motive.
