This beautiful hardcover edition of The Polar Express is the perfect gift for all those--of any age--who believe, come Christmas Eve, that they too will hear the sweet sound of a reindeer's silver bell. This edition includes a keepsake ornament.

A young boy, lying awake one Christmas Eve, is welcomed aboard a magical train to the North Pole . . .

Through dark forests, over tall mountains, and across a barren desert of ice, the Polar Express makes its way to the huge city standing alone at the top of the world, where the boy will make his Christmas wish.

For millions of readers around the world, this mysterious journey to the North Pole has become a beloved Christmas classic. In this thirtieth-anniversary edition, the inimitable artistry of Chris Van Allsburg is showcased with a bold new jacket design and expanded interior layout.

The Polar Express is a Caldecott Medal winner, and reading the story together is a beloved holiday tradition held by generations of families. It has also become a favorite holiday movie and been translated into stage productions that take place across the United States during the holiday season.

Roll the dice, make your move, and plunge into one of the most imaginative stories of our time!

The game under the tree looked like a hundred others Peters and Judy had at home. But they were searching for something interesting to do, so they decided to give Jumanji a try. Little did they know when they unfolded its ordinary-looking playing board that they were about to be launched into the most exciting and bizarre adventure of their lives...

This picture book classic from Chris Van Allsburg has been honored with many awards, including the Caldecott Medal. The surreal story also became the basis of multiple blockbuster film adaptations.

This story about a game that comes startlingly to life is a family favorite that inspires imagination and explores the ever-shifting line between fantasy and reality.

Acclaimed author Chris Van Allsburg's daring companion to his Caldecott Medal-winning Jumanji. This tale of intergalactic adventure and sibling rivalry features a beautifully refreshed cover.

In a story that picks up where Jumanji leaves off, older brother Walter warns his pesky little brother, Danny, not to bring home a mysterious board game they find at the park. But when Danny's curiosity gets the better of him, the brothers have to battle homicidal robots, Zyborg pirates, and giant meteors in their living room!

Will the feuding brothers learn to work together before it's too late? Full-spread illustrations depict the shimmering, surreal events of the story. Readers will be holding their breath with each new threat the boys face in this satisfying enigmatic picture book from a master creator.

Like Jumanji, Zathura is also the inspiration of a popular major motion picture.

These figs are very special, the woman whispered. They can make your dreams come true. -- Thus Monsieur Bibot, the cold-hearted dentist, was given two ordinary-looking figs as payment for extracting a tooth from an old woman's mouth. Monsieur Bibot refused to believe such nonsense and proceeded to eat one of the figs for a bedtime snack. Although it was possibly the finest, sweetest fig he had ever tasted, it wasn't until the next morning that Monsieur Bibot realized it indeed had the power to make his dreams come true. While dragging his poor dog, Marcel, out for his walk, he discovered that his strange dream from the night before was becoming all too real. Determined to make good use of the second fig, Monsieur Bibot learns to control is dreams. But can he control Marcel? Once again Chris Van Allsburg explores the mysterious territory between fantasy and reality in an uncanny tale that will intrigue readers of all ages.

The first picture book from the astonishing imagination of Chris Van Allsburg, creator of Jumanji and The Polar Express. Now with a completely refreshed design and two-color interior artwork.

The thin line between illusion and reality blur for young Alan Mitz when he stumbles into the garden of Abdul Gasazi. In this unexpected place where strange topiary trees loom, the eerie presence of Gasazi casts its shadow and nothing is quite as it seems. Even after Alan escapes, the spell of Gasazi follows him into the everyday world, just as it will follow readers of this unforgettable picture book.

Awarded a Caldecott Honor, the exquisite illustrations in The Garden of Abdul Gasazi will linger in the minds of readers long after they have left the enchanted garden.

The ants are tired of their humdrum life in the same ant hole, so they're off to the strange new world of a kitchen in search of sugar crystals for their queen.

But when two ants stay behind and take a nap in the sugar bowl, they are in for a wild ride. Falling into a sizzling cup of coffee and a heated stay inside of a toaster is just the beginning for these misbehaved ants.

Will they ever make it back home?

Chris Van Allsburg's terrific story about the consequences of disobeying reminds us all that the comforts of home aren't so bad after all.

The enchanting story of a widow who finds herself in possession of an extraordinary broom after a witch falls into her garden.

Some of Minna Shaw's neighbors don't trust her clever broom. It's dangerous, they say. But Minna appreciates the broom's help. She enjoys its quiet company.

But one day two children get taught a well-deserved lesson by the broom. For her neighbors, this is proof of the broom's evil spirit. Minna is obligated to give up her dear companion.

Chris Van Allsburg, master of the mysterious, brings this tale to life with moody and memorable pictures that will haunt readers long after the book's covers are closed--now in a new edition to celebrate this beloved book's twenty-fifth anniversary.

The enigmatic origins of the stranger that Farmer Bailey hits with his truck and brings home to recuperate seem to have a mysterious relation to the weather. Could he be Jack Frost?

An inspired collection of short stories by an all-star cast of bestselling storytellers based on the thought-provoking illustrations in Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

For more than twenty-five years, the illustrations in the extraordinary Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg have intrigued and entertained readers of all ages. Thousands of children have been inspired to weave their own stories to go with these enigmatic pictures. Now we've asked some of our very best storytellers to spin the tales. Enter The Chronicles of Harris Burdick to gather this incredible compendium of stories: mysterious, funny, creepy, poignant, these are tales you won't soon forget.

This inspired collection of short stories features many remarkable, best-selling authors in the worlds of both adult and children's literature: Sherman Alexie, M.T. Anderson, Kate DiCamillo, Cory Doctorow, Jules Feiffer, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka, Lemony Snicket, and Chris Van Allsburg himself.

Van Allsburg's illustrations have evoked such wonderment and imagination since Harris Burdick's original publication in 1984; many have speculated or have woven their own stories to go with his images. More than ever, the illustrations send off their eerie call for text and continue to compel and pick at the reader's brain for a backstory--a threaded tale behind the image. In this book, we've collected some of the best storytellers to spin them.

A dramatic black- and- white presentation of the alphabet in which the three-time Caldecott medalist depicts a mysterious transformation of each letter.

In this picture book classic, travel with young Walter on a fantastical adventure as he journeys--by way of his bed--into a polluted dreamscape world that wakes him up to our collective and individual environmental responsibility.

Walter does not appreciate the beauty of nature, or understand his role in keeping the planet healthy . . . until a fantastic journey shows him the tragic fate that could befall Earth if humans like him are not more careful.

Chris Van Allsburg (The Polar Express) pairs pitch-perfect narrative with his full-color pastel illustrations, rendering this picture book a story that has stood the test of time.

Two-time Caldecott Medalist Van Allsburg reaches a new pinnacle of excellence in both illustration and storytelling in his latest work. (Publishers Weekly)

The award-winning author of Jumanji and The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg, challenges young readers to use their creativity and imagination in this one-of-a-kind book that asks readers to finish the story.

When author-illustrator extraordinaire Harris Burdick goes missing, all he's left behind are a series of images with accompanying captions, ideas for separate picture books.

But what can a picture of a nun quietly sitting in a chair floating in a cathedral have to do with a caption that says, THE SEVEN CHAIRS: The fifth one ended up in France?

Enticed to come up with their own endings, readers will marvel at the mystery behind these lasting drawings and the charm of an everchanging narrative.

Caldecott medal winner Chris Van Allsburg's call for readers to write their own stories will enthrall young minds again and again.

In illustrations so vivid one can feel the whisper of wind and hear the flutter of canvas, depart this world for another to entertain the marvelous possibility of dreams.

Beloved Caldecott-winning illustrator Chris Van Allsburg invites readers to peer over the edge of a cliff to consider the wreck of a small sailboat. Had a churning sea carried the Zephyr up in a storm? Could waves ever have been so impossibly high? And what of the boy who had believed--dared to chase the wind--no matter where it lead?

The winds have shifted once again, and you're invited to hear the story of the boy and his obsession to become the world's greatest sailor and a storm that carried them to a place where boats sail on the wind, instead of on the water.

Told in spare text and haunting, full-color pastels, Chris Van Allsburg's spectral sailboats take impossible flight.

In a story recounted through the daily log of Captain Allan Hope, the sailors aboard the Rita Anne become mesmerized and transformed by a mysterious glowing rock, and only music and books can restore them to normal.

On a terrifically rainy day, Ben has a dream in which he and his house float by the monuments of the world, half submerged in flood-water.

In this picture book classic, travel with young Walter on a fantastical adventure as he journeys--by way of his bed--into a polluted dreamscape world that wakes him up to our collective and individual environmental responsibility.

Walter does not appreciate the beauty of nature, or understand his role in keeping the planet healthy . . . until a fantastic journey shows him the tragic fate that could befall Earth if humans like him are not more careful.

Chris Van Allsburg (The Polar Express) pairs pitch-perfect narrative with his full-color pastel illustrations, rendering this picture book a story that has stood the test of time.

Two-time Caldecott Medalist Van Allsburg reaches a new pinnacle of excellence in both illustration and storytelling in his latest work. --Publishers Weekly

This anniversary edition includes a stunning new jacket!

For his birthday, Calvin's mother gives him two tickets to see Lomax the Magnificent (magician and hypnotist extraordinaire!). Even though Mama hints that his little sister, Trudy, would love to go, Calvin doesn't hesitate to invite his friend Rodney instead.

The boys return home greatly impressed by the magician's performance. When Calvin's mother goes out, she leaves him in charge of Trudy. It's a job Calvin dislikes because his sister does not want to be left out of anything. So Calvin and Rodney include her--by making her the first subject for their own hypnotizing machine.

Much to the boys' surprise, the machine works. But unfortunately they cannot undo what they have done. Trudy is stuck in her trance, convinced she is a dog--panting, drooling, and barking at squirrels. The only problem is, Calvin can't remember Lomax's magic word--Probuditi!--so Trudy won't snap out of it!

The boys are worried and decide to take Trudy to the one man they know can solve their problem--but will Lomax help them? Mama is on her way home . . . Who will have the last laugh?

Come meet the Queen of the Falls and witness with your own eyes her daring ride!

At the turn of the nineteenth century, a retired sixty-two-year-old charm school instructor named Annie Edson Taylor, seeking fame and fortune, decided to do something that no one in the world had ever done before--she would go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel.

She could remember standing in a park near the falls, hypnotized by the sight and sound, and holding her father's hand as they took a walk that would lead them closer. That's what everyone wonders when they see Niagara . . . How close will their courage let them get to it?

This gorgeous, imaginative picture book is from two-time Caldecott winner Chris Van Allsburg, creator of Jumanji and The Polar Express.

From two-time Caldecott winner Chris Van Allsburg, creator of Jumanji and The Polar Express, comes a poignant story of one hamster's struggle with destiny.

Being a pet store hamster isn't much fun for Sweetie Pie, but life in human homes proves downright perilous. As Sweetie Pie longingly gazes out of his cage at the squirrels frolicking in the trees, he wonders if he'll ever have the chance to feel the wind in his fur.

Allsburg's expressive, soft-hued illustrations artfully capture a hamster's-eye view of the wide and wonderful world where maybe, just maybe, Sweetie Pie could someday run free.

Master artist and storyteller Chris Van Allsburg presents a surrealistic journey into the imagination.

This provocative story within a story leads readers to ponder the realities of fictional worlds and the lives of the characters who populate them.

Riverbend was a quiet little town, the kind of place where one day was just like all the rest and nothing ever happened. Occasionally the stagecoach rolled through, but it never stopped, because no one ever came to Riverbend and no one ever left.

The day the stagecoach stood motionless in the center of town, Sheriff Ned Hardy knew something was terribly wrong. What was the mysterious substance on both coach and horses? It would not come off. Soon it was everywhere in the tidy little village. Something had to be done, and Sheriff Hardy aimed to do it.

From two-time Caldecott winner Chris Van Allsburg, creator of Jumanji and The Polar Express.