The Polar Express Connects New Hampshire With the North Pole

Ten years ago, Donna Urey of White Birch Books in North Conway, New Hampshire, saw the potential of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, to bring even more comfort and joy to the book's fans. She proposed turning the vintage cars and old steam engine of the Conway Scenic Railway into the "Polar Express" and creating a fantasy trip to the "North Pole." The original idea has snowballed into a gigantic regional event, spawning an organization that now runs it and providing sponsorship for the Believe in Books Literacy Foundation.

This year, concurrent with the release of the animated adaptation of The Polar Express, starring Tom Hanks, any Book Sense bookstore can create its own Polar Express event through a promotion developed by Houghton Mifflin, the book's publisher, and Book Sense. The Polar Express Ride for Reading offers booksellers the opportunity to participate in a fundraising event to support First Book, a literacy organization. Materials for the Polar Express Ride for Reading, including materials for fundraising and a Polar Express party, are in the September Red Box mailing.

North Conway's Polar Express celebration is one example of how a bookseller can create an ambitious, but workable, special event for his or her community. Donna Urey modestly takes little credit for the enormous event that now takes place three December weekends in her community, but she was the person who requested a copy of The Polar Express, as well as permission to use the name, from Houghton Mifflin a decade ago. That single copy convinced the owner of the Conway Scenic Railway and other local business people that the train could be transformed into the Polar Express and the Bear Peak ski lodge, the North Pole.

Urey described the experience to BTW, "Every night, 400 people ride to the 'North Pole' on the 'Polar Express.' On the way up, they are served hot chocolate, by chefs who look 'just like the book,' as well as a candy with nougat center 'as white as snow.' When the train pulls into the North Pole, they are greeted by a sea of elves -- somewhere between 80 to 120 -- all dressed in red and green costumes 'just like the book.' The elves lead them up a lantern-lighted path to the North Pole theatre [Bear Peak ski lodge]. There is an old man, who is the little boy in the book, now grown old -- dressed in the same pajamas and robe as the little boy in the book. He reads the fantastic story of a magical journey he took many years ago, just like the one the audience took tonight. While he's reading, the artwork from the book is projected on several screens. When he finishes, Santa arrives, and walks around the room, talking to the kids for a bit, then begins to look for someone to receive 'the first gift of Christmas.' Of course, all the kids are frantically trying to get him to pick them, but we do have a 'plant,' who is dressed as in the book. He and Santa do pretty much the same exchange as in the book, with one addition: The little boy asks that everyone receive a bell from Santa's reindeer. -- This is always a big hit-- Then Santa hears the tolling bells telling him it's time to go. Everyone gets back on the train for the ride home -- gets a bell, and that's it."

White Birch Books in North Conway, New Hampshire.

Tickets are distributed through a computerized lottery system, which attracts about 10,000 hopefuls, almost 10 requests for every one ticket. "We used to sell the tickets by phone," Urey told BTW, "but the second year [the rush for tickets] knocked out telephone service in all of New Hampshire and some of the surrounding areas."

Back at White Birch Books, lottery tickets for the Polar Express are available and the show's narrator makes an appearance to read The Polar Express and other holiday books. Urey said, "We serve hot chocolate.... People who haven't been able to get tickets sometimes come to that. As you can tell, our mantra is 'just like the book', and people love that -- they all know the book well."

For more about the Polar Express Ride for Reading promotion, click here, and to learn more about First Book, click here. --Nomi Schwartz