Children - Holidays & Festivals, Children - Fairy Tales, Myths & Fables

The Nutcracker

Name: The Nutcracker
Author: John Cech
ISBN: 9781402785054

by John Cech, Eric Puybaret (Illustrator)

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Overview

Have more fun with your NOOK BOOK-
Now with READALOUD and POPUP text!
What a special Christmas gift this will be: the beloved holiday fantasy, beautifully retold by John Cech (author of our Classic Fairy Tale series) and illustrated by Eric Puybaret, whose imaginative art helped turn Puff, the Magic Dragon into a blockbuster. Cech bases his version on E.T.A. Hoffman's original, which features not only the story familiar to all ballet lovers, but other wondrous adventures-including the tale of Princess Pirlipat and an explanation of the origins of the Nutcracker himself. Lavishly and elegantly packaged, this belongs under every child's tree.

Deck the halls with do-it-yourself holiday ornaments inspired by The Nutcracker.(PDF)

2009 Parents' Choice Recommended winner

About the Author, John Cech

John Cech writes plays, poetry, and fiction for both children and adults, and is a Professor of English at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He is also the Director of the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture and has served as a judge for The New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year, as well as the Boston Globe/Horn Book Awards; was President of the Children’s Literature Association; and won the Chandler Award of Merit for his work in Children’s Literature.

Eric Puybaret was born in France, and graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. His first American book was Puff, the Magic Dragon, by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton, published by Sterling in 2007.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Cech's adaptation retains the story-within-a-story structure of Hoffman's original, while Puybaret's stylized illustrations—composed of strong but muted colors and clean, flat shapes—suggest a dizzying fever-dream. After battling the Mouse King, Marie travels to the Nutcracker's hypnagogic homeland where “harlequins somersaulted one over the other” and “Turkish dancers spun so fast they moved like tops across the floor,” awakening on Christmas morning with a headache and sore throat. Fixing her nutcracker, Godfather Drosselmeier relays the Nutcracker's tale over several pages and, years later, the Nutcracker comes to her as a young man, his curse broken. A provocative and layered conceptualization. Ages 5–12. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 4–This retelling includes the full narrative of the classic E. T. A. Hoffmann text without all of the old-fashioned turns of phrase, making it a good choice for an extended read-aloud. The luminous, rather stylized acrylic illustrations depict a contemporary Marie who moves from the realistic setting of her home to the dream and fantasy worlds of the Nutcracker. A worthy purchase where yet another illustrated version of the story is needed.–Virginia Walter, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, CA

Kirkus Reviews

Cech's adaptation of the holiday classic is based on Hoffman's original rather than on the later ballet. Although the story has been shortened, it is still too lengthy for most children, and some spreads have just text and no illustrations. Puybaret's acrylic paintings show an art deco influence, and the muted colors, shadowy atmosphere and subdued expressions on the characters' faces (as well as the army of mice slinking out of the darkness) give the illustrations a nightmarish rather than dreamlike quality. The characters are like puppets: Marie is a sad blond girl who smiles only on the cover illustration, and the Nutcracker is still a wooden figure even after he has come to life. Shorter and more cheerful versions of the story are more appropriate for the season and for today's young readers. (Picture book. 6-9)