Customer Reviews

Nutcracker

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a gift to my family when I was a child - I loved it then, and enjoy it more every time I re-read. The story is more than just the plot for a ballet. There is a lot of background, description, and insight included, and they do a lot to make the book fantastic. What elevates this work to magnificent is the artwork done by Sendak. It is lush, detailed, and beautiful. I can't say enough about the quality of this book, and urge everyone to find their own copy. This is not just a Christmas story, but a wonderful parable for every season

My daughter loves the Nutcracker ballet and I thought it would be good for her to know the full story behind it (I had never heard it myself). The previous reviews and comments on the beautiful illustrations led me to believe this would be a great choice for my 5 year old daughter.

The illustrations are very similar in style to those in Where the Wild Things Are. If you don't like that book, you won't like the illustrations in this one. Also be aware that this is NOT a picture book. There is a very high ratio of text to illustrations.
I also feel the text is inappropriate for young children. The actual story is very dark and the language, while beautiful, is above the vocabulary and experience of most young children. ( "These intrepid and magnificently uniformed troops, consisting of gardeners, Tyroleans, Tunguses, barbers, harlequins, cupids, lions, and tigers, and monkeys, fought with coolness, courage, and perseverance. With their Spartan bravery, this elite regiment would have wrested the victory from the enemy, had not a daring mouse captain leaped into the fray and bitten the head off one of the Chinese emperors, who in falling crushed two Tunguses and a monkey." p32)

I WOULD recommend this book for older children.

This book is beautiful! I received the first edition as a Christmas gift as a child. I cherished it, reading it over and over again. Sendak's illustrations and Hoffman's engaging story are still vivid in my memory. I bought two copies of this re-issue, one for my 3-year-old son and one for my 4-year-old niece. This is what all children's books should aspire to. A wonderful gift for any child.

Maurice Sendak's fabulous sets and costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker are as much a beloved childhood memory for many of us in the Northwest as his well-known illustrations for Where the Wild Things Are. So when I saw this version of the Nutcracker with his illustrations, I simply had to have it. It does not disappoint! I read through it again and again, enchanted by the beautifully detailed full-page scenes and the charming characters dancing all around the text. And if you're only familiar with the ballet and have never read the original story, you'll be as amazed as I was at just how much more there is to the tale. Whether you're a fan of Sendak, the ballet, or just good children's fairy tales, this book is well worth the price.

When I was a child I had this book , as well as two audio tape versions of the story. ( one read by Claire Bloom, the other by Christopher Plummer, both are great!) If you go to see the ballet without knowing the backstory it doesn't make much sense.
I also totally disagree that the book ( and the audio versions for that matter) are only good for older children and adults. While the language may be more complex than some story books there is no reason why a young child can't understand it. If parents expose their children to more sophisticated language then they learn it. Toomany books, cds, tv shows etc... talk down to children! If a child is never exposed to language then they can't learn it. My mother and father never talked down or baby talked to me, and exposed me to a wide variety of books, when I was 2 I said "I presume...." in answer to a question my mother asked me. LOL :-)
Just a though.

Excellent book and an all time favorite for Christmas or any time...............The needed companion for the ballet !

E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Nutcracker" tells the classic story of a young girl's transformation from youth to adulthood. Maurice Sendak created the beautiful characters and artwork throughout this book, and he also designed the costumes and theatrical sets for the Pacific Ballet Company's version (available on VHS).

I highly recommend this book to young and old alike. It is a truly exceptional treasure to enjoy with friends and loved ones at this special time of year.

When I was about five, my father would read to me from this book every night at bedtime and it is one of my fondest memories of my childhood. One year he took me to see the Nutcracker Ballet and I remembered the whole story from this book. Now that I am a mother, I looked for this book for my own daughter and immediately recognized the cover even though it has been over 20 years! I was so pleasantly surprised to realize it was Maurice Sendak who had illustrated it. He is also the author of my other favorite book from my youth, Outside Over There, of which I have a signed first edition that I will pass on to my daughter. I was sad to have lost track of this book, but delighted to have tracked it down again. I hope my daughter cherishes it as much as I did, and I look forward to reading it to her when she is a bit older.

When I was six years old, my mother took me to see the amazing PNB production of Nutcracker with beautiful sets and costumes by Maurice Sendak. Afterward, she bought me this book. The illustrations are wonderful, the story (which goes far beyond the plot of the ballet) is fantastic, and it has become a family heirloom which we read every year at Christmastime. It has never failed to excite my imaginiation and I cannot wait to read it to my children.

When I was young, about eight or nine years old, I desperately wanted to be a ballerina and dance in the Nutcracker. My family had gone to see a production the year before and when we went that year, I begged for a Nutcracker all my own. My mom said no, but if I asked "Santa" for one, maybe there would be one at Christmas. Well, I did, and there was none under the tree on Christmas morning. Little did I know that my aunt had was about to give me a signed copy of this book, and a Nutcracker to go with it. I will never forget curling up on the couch Christmas night, Nutcracker under one arm, and was transported to a distant land as I read and was lost in the wonderful illustrations. To this day, many years later, I still enjoy getting this book out at Christmas time and curling up on the couch. The drawings are wonderful and to this day they draw me in. It is a beautiful book, one I have cherished for many years, and one that I hope to share with my children some day.