Customer Reviews

The Nutcracker Ballet

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have ever gone to the Nutcracker Ballet and didn't quite understand what was going on this book will be a great help. My daughter and I went when she was five. A few months later she found this book at her school library. She couldn't put it down. She wanted a copy of her own. The next year when we went to see The Nutcracker Ballet again she really understood what was going on and said she enjoyed it alot more than the first time she saw it. It is a must for any little girl.

My daughter and I were repeatedly drawn back to this book because of the extraordinary illustrations. We have read many versions of this story and have found this one to really bring the ballet to life right before your eyes. The pictures are magical! It's a "must have" for any child who loves the Nutcracker.

The Nutcracker Ballet--beloved by children, supported by adults, an opportunity for young ballet students to dance and traipse the boards. Ah, the Nutcracker!

Do you remember your first time to see this wonderland of ballet? Were you as confused as I was? Before ever taking a child to this ballet, please introduce her or him to the story. "The Nutcracker Ballet" by Vladimir Vagin is a story told with clarity and illustrated with detail. It's a great place to start.

On the two pages following the title page is a row of houses, one of which is the setting for the party. Since the time period is the late 1800's, when Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the music for the story by E.T.A. Hoffman, attention to period detail is important.

The top half of the first page of the story shows children peeking through the keyhole (remember those?) at the adult party inside. On the wall is a sconce of glowing, lighted candles. Parquet floors are shown in the M design. In the bottom half is the script wrapped in gold bars and red ribbons and bedecked with holly. A beaded ribbon is tied around a single walnut sitting atop the I of It in the narrative.

The next page shows a decorated tree, including little lighted candles as was once popular before electric lights. The detail is truly incredible.
What is most helpful, however, is the clarity of the story. This is a book in which text and illustration work together to tell a magical story: a battle between good and evil with Clara, the girl, striking the winning blow.

The VERY BEST aspect of this version is the perspective. The child/viewer is right there on the floor at eye level with the soldiers and mice, almost a part of the battle scene. It's a little scary, but not if that child is sitting next to you or in your lap.

The page that shows the prince's Castle Land is truly fantastic: the Land of Sweets that looks like a confectioner's greatest fantasy. Pink trees with peppermint in various colors, topiary trees of more fantasia shapes and colors, gingerbread houses and spires. Nothing is simple or plain.

The Sugarplum Fairy is most striking of all. Instead of a confection color, she is wearing a black dress highlighted by plum blossoms, leaves, and ripe plums. Her attendants are more like angels from medieval paintings. It is all so delightful.

And at the end, when Clara awakes from her dream and has had her adventure, she realizes that "magic is the best present of all." Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Now your child can go to the ballet and understand the story. I did.

We read this book to our sons, 4 1/2 and 2 yrs. old, before taking them to the Nutcracker ballet. It is great version for introducing kids to the storyline. Nice illustrations and just enough text for young children.

In anticipation of taking my 3 ½ year old to see The Nutcracker for the very first time, I purchased Vladimir Vagin's THE NUTCRACKER BALLET (which was highly recommended by a friend), so that I could familiarize my daughter with the story. She already recognizes most of the music from The Nutcracker Suite (and can tell you the names of the different pieces!), but I also wanted her to understand the basic story. THE NUTCRACKER BALLET is not only an excellent retelling of the story told in the ballet; it is also quite beautiful to look at.

The illustrations in THE NUTCRACKER BALLET are exquisite. They are vivid, colorful, detailed, and drawn from the perspective of a young child. My wee one was drawn to these lovely images; she commented on each one and asked intelligent questions. When we got to the Land of Sweets, she was utterly enchanted. She loved the dancers' clothes, Clara's gown, and of course the Sugar Plum Fairy. The story in THE NUTCRACKER BALLET is simply told. My child was able to follow along easily and understood the story. In fact, even I learned a thing or two about The Nutcracker, and I have seen the ballet countless times!

THE NUTCRACKER BALLET really helped my daughter understand and enjoy The Nutcracker on stage. She watched intently, her eyes bright and shining. She loved the music, the dancing, and the story. We had a marvelous time. For anyone planning to attend a performance of The Nutcracker, I highly recommend this book. It will truly add to your child's delight of the event.

This book was a gift to two young grandaughters who had recently seen The Nutcracker Ballet on stage, for the first time. The book tells the story beautifully and is a wondeful keepsake. The girls love it!

it was christmas 1989 and before the holidays my grade 1 class was studying this book and we even saw the ballet downtown and I thought it was so pretty that my mom bought me the storybook and I really loved all the illustrations and my favourite parts were how big the candies were. I plan to see the ballet again if it plays again in my hometown this christmas.

The art of this book is a bit warped looking, almost disorienting, but it is a sweet read. My children and I like that it shows pictures of all the different "Sweets" dances, although the Sugar Plum Faery is very tropical looking in a black dress covered in many different flowers. I've had to get a couple of Nutcracker books to fill in the gaps.

This is a beautifully illustrated book that tells the story of the Nutcracker simply and well. I bought it with the George Balanchine's Nutcracker DVD and the book very closely follows the DVD. This is handy for explaining the story to young children (except the DVD does call the girl "Marie"... young children don't mind). My four-year-old daughter loves the book and isn't frightened by the Mouse King scene (which is short, but does contain a few graphic words like putting a sword in his heart). I can overlook this because the book is so well done.

This book fit the bill perfectly. There's about a zillion books on the Nutcracker, at every price point, but I wanted one that my child could carry into the theater, look at while we waited for the ballet to start, look at again during intermission, and not worry about too much. I figured the pop-up books, the finger puppet books, or the majestic story books would fall to the floor with a crash and be disruptive. This book is soft cover, 9X12" and every page is a full-spread illustration. The text is easy for little ballet-goers, the pictures are fine (if not majestic) and it was a great preview before we got to the theater. Exactly what I wanted, $6.00, perfecto. Consider me happy.