It's hard for children's authors to be accepted when they try to write adult books. J.K. Rowling is the exception because people are so eager to read anything by her but it took Judy Blume three or four tries before she had a success.
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.