Nutcracker

by Lisbeth Zwerger, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Susanne Koppe

For nearly two hundred years, E. T. A. Hoffmann's tale of the Nutcracker has enchanted readers, inspired artists and composers, and delighted audiences around the world. In cities and towns everywhere, children thrill to annual performances of Tchaikovsky's classic Christmas ballet about a girl named Marie who helps a wooden nutcracker defeat an evil army of mice, and is rewarded by a visit to the magical dream world, the Land of Toys. Lisbeth Zwerger's stunning, all-new interpretation of ""The Nutcracker, adapted from the original Hoffmann tale, rounds out the story depicted in the ballet, exploring the background of the feud between the Nutcracker and the seven-headed Mouse King, the true role of the mysterious Drosselmeier, the tragic fate of Princess Pirlipat, the spell cast by Mistress Mousie that is finally broken by loyal Marie, and the satisfying, happily-ever-after conclusion to the great battle and fantastic journey. In pictures filled with wit and whimsy, drama, mystery, and magic, Lisbeth Zwerger transports us to the darkest reaches and brightest beauty of this fairy-tale world.

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 23, 2004

About the author

Lisbeth Zwerger is an Austrian illustrator of children's books. For her "lasting contribution to children's literature" she received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1990.

Born in Vienna in 1954, she studied at the local Applied Arts Academy from 1971 to 1974. Since the publication of her first illustrated book in 1977, she has worked as a freelance picture book illustrator specializing in fairy tales.

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a little different and more involved story from the Nutcracker Ballet. The Ballet happens all over an evening and this happens over several evenings. There are more battles in this book also. Drosselmeier goes into a long enchanted backstory that I had never heard before in this book. I believe this is based on the original. He is related to the Nutcracker who was enchanted.

There is a whole page of text with one page of pictures. It is a long bedtime story and it is good. I told my niece it was a ballet and she wants to see it now. Both kids were into the story and it was too much text per page. They got restless.

I enjoyed knowing the full story.

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's pretty good. As the note in the beginning points out, by necessity the story had to be shortened to fit the picture book format. I love the pictures. The story, however, is a different issue. It has its moments, but comes across as more surreal and bizarre than magical and wonderful.