Chris Allsburg

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it read more

Some artists claim praise is irrelevant in measuring the success of art, but I think it's quite relevant. Besides, it makes me feel great.

The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the desire to read more

The Polar Express is about faith, and the power of imagination to sustain faith. It's also about the desire to reside in a world where magic can happen, the kind of world we all believed in as children, but one that disappears as we grow older.

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact read more

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people read more

The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.

The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the train was going read more

The Polar Express was the easiest of my picture book manuscripts to write... Once I realized the train was going to the North Pole, finding the story seemed less like a creative effort than an act of recollection. I felt, like the story's narrator, that I was remembering something, not making it up.