The Polar Express: The Movie: The Magic Journey: Deluxe Storybook [Hardcover]

Tracey West (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Polar Express: The Movie

A full-color illustrated picture book retelling the movie screenplay, with full-color poster.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Chris Van Allsburg is the winner of two Caldecott Medals, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, and the Caldecott Honor for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. He has also been awarded the

Regina Medal, for lifetime achievement in children’s literature. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife and two children. Visit his website at www.chrisvanallsburg.com.

Ellen Weiss was born December 7, 1953, in New York, N.Y. she is married Ken Goldstrom with whom she lives in Cambridge, Mass. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute. She has been a freelancer writer and illustrator since 1975 with numerous children's books to her credit.

Tracey West grew up in a small town in New Jersey. Tracey attended Rutgers University and studied English and Journalism there. She knew she wanted to be a writer, and journalism seemed to be a way to write and get paid for it. She worked on the college newspaper and even worked as a newspaper reporter for a little while, but when she graduated she got a job as an editorial assistant at a small publishing company. She learned a lot there about how books are edited, published, and sold.

From there she moved to a company that “packaged” children’s books and sold them to other publishers. She started out submitting ideas for books that other writers would then turn into stories. Then she began writing outlines for those writers. Finally, she wrote her first book, a Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Supermystery called Spies and Lies.

At the same time, she and her friends Bonnie and Lisa came up with an idea for a children’s book called Great Uncle Dracula. They wrote the book under the pseudonym Jayne Harvey. That was the first time an original idea she had got turned into a book, and she loved the feeling.

Tracey went to work for Scholastic after that, and when she left in 1996 she decided to try writing books full time. In 1997 she started Pure West Productions and began writing, editing, and packaging books and magazines.

A few years later she got the job writing Pokémon books, and that’s when the fun really started. Although writing Pokémon kept her busy, Scholastic picked up her original series, Pixie Tricks. She went on to write eight books in the Pixie Tricks series, aimed at children ages 6-8. A few years later, Tracey debuted Scream Shop, a Pick Your Path published by Grosset & Dunlap. Readers of the spooky stories get to choose what happens in the story and how it ends.

Tracey continues to write books based on cartoons and licensed properties such as Scooby Doo, Teen Titans, Survivor, Hi-Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, and Totally Spies!. She hopes to have a new original series out soon.

In 2005, Tracey married Bill Hancock, who was her friend in high school. Today she lives with Bill, three dogs, and one cat, and she is stepmom to Bill’s three great kids, Will, Shannon, and Zane. When she is not busy writing, working on the website, or answering mail, she is usually playing board games with her family, reading, walking the dogs, or watching cartoons. She has not played Ultimate Frisbee in years, but if anyone is up for a game please drop her a line.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; Rei/Pstr D edition (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618477888
• ISBN-13: 978-0618477883
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST BUY!, November 9, 2004

By 

K. Wicklund (Northern Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Polar Express: The Movie: The Magic Journey: Deluxe Storybook (Hardcover)

I went to see this movie last night in 3D! and immediately went to buy the book. The book accurately depicts the movie and how wonderful the story and pictures are. I highly recommend this book!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pictures in Book were dark and gloomy, December 8, 2004

By 

Amazon Customer (Youngstown,OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Polar Express: The Movie: The Magic Journey: Deluxe Storybook (Hardcover)

I went to see the movie and it was great!!!
Then, I bought the movie Storybook and the pictures
were very dark, instead of bright and cheerful.
I recommend if you want the polar express storybook,
buy the original Polar Express book by Chris Van Allsburg,
not the Magic Journey, Polar Express Movie Storybook.
I was quite dissatified with the pictures.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No attention to detail, January 1, 2006

By 

S. Sisk "mom2grif" (Lexington, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Polar Express: The Movie: The Magic Journey: Deluxe Storybook (Hardcover)

We saw the movie last year with my then 2 year old who loved the movie. We bought The Polar Express book and he loves having it read to him. This year we bought the DVD and he has watched it many times this Christmas season. Someone gave my mother The Magic Journey and when we read it to my now 3 year old he has found some of the errors in it and I have found more. Some of the pictures are directly from the movie and others are not. The Lonely Boy, Billy, is dressed differently at the beginning of the book than he actually was in the movie and is at the end of the book. The hero boy pulled the brake in the engine to stop for the cariboo, not the girl. There are more errors than this, too many to list. Don't buy this book, buy the original. It is beautifully written and illustrated. This book is a joke.