A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas

by Ralph Covert, G. Riley Mills, Wilson Swain (Illustrator)

This is no ordinary Nutcracker! This time, it's Fritz's story. The traditional Nutcracker tale gets turned on its head in this rollicking Christmas adventure, based on the hit musical A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas by the popular family music rock star Ralph Covert and playwright G. Riley Mills.

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Holiday, Retellings, Fiction

45 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[La Coccinelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

As if privileged little white boys don't have enough stories for them already! This book is kind of insulting. Not only does Fritz get rewarded for his bad behaviour with an amazing adventure, he ends up having to save a girl because she's too weak... never mind that she's the Nutcracker and was the one who originally saved the day (somehow, she's magically too weak to do the exact same thing when a boy is around).

This is just an unnecessary twist on the original story. The illustrations are nothing special.

I can't get past the sexism. The fact that this book was written by two men and illustrated by yet another makes it seem even more like a male fantasy: get away with bad behaviour and save the weak female. Nope, sorry. It's the 21st century; if you're going to update a story from the 1800s by including something modern like video games, don't keep the gender mores stuck in the past.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the nutcracker, but didn't love this retelling through Fritz's perspective. I could see little boys who like playing video games maybe preferring this version over the original though

[Christiane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modern take on the traditional Nutcracker story, based on "the hit musical...by the popular children's rock star Ralph Covert". (I hadn’t heard of either.) When Fritz (Clara's brother) breaks his sister's favorite nutcracker doll, he is left at home with a boring old neighbor and his favorite video game (Mouse Hunter 5000) is locked away. When Fritz sneaks his video game out and plays it, the Mouse King suddenly appears and Fritz and the now alive (and girl) Nutcracker have to save Christmas. The story is well done and the CD is a nice addition (I liked the Mouse King’s song “Let’s Ruin Christmas!”). The best part though is the amazing, awesomely detailed illustrations by Wilson Swain. (I really loved the antics of the fat white cat who accompanies them on their adventure!)

[Mortisha Cassavetes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a modern day retelling of the Nutcracker and I feel that it is very relatable to younger kids. The story follows Fritz, as he had his game taken away for breaking his sister's nutcracker toy. Fritz is not allowed to go with the family to see the Nutcracker and must stay with his elderly neighbor. Fritz sneaks the key to open the chest to retrieve his game and he releases the Rat King into the world. I do not want to go into the story more as it is a very short read but I highly recommend it especially around the holiday. Bright colorful illustrations that are wonderful artwork.

[Camile Doubtfire · Rating 1 out of 5]

The e m-book version of this was frustrating and I stopped reading half way through, which says a lot for a short story like this one. I wasn’t enjoying the story and though I appreciated the effort and the creative composition of the illustrations, they weren’t my favourite and I couldn’t be bothered double clicking and zooming in on each one.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun twist to the Classic Story

Kids enjoyed the twist to the Nutcracker. Modern fun mixed with video games and charming characters made this story adventurous fir my preschoolers who loved the Nutcracker being a girl.

[Sherry Scheline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t particularly care for this retelling. Short story ... moral videos games are bad, end story.


I don’t like the portrayal of Marie. The nutcracker is not the hero of the story. The privileged white kid that plays to many video games 🎮 is the hero. :(

[Britt · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay kid’s book that attempts to briefly modernize the Nutcracker with some role reversals. Illustrations are well done.

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a children's book. It had a really cute twist on the nutcracker story with a modern video game theme and a female nutcracker! Great job!

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fun version of the nutcracker focusing on Fritz

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ebook didn’t do justice to the illustrations.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reimagining of the story of the Nutcracker from a modern boys perspective.

[Eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

more modern take on the nutcracker.

[Christy Broderick⁷ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Fritz’s version of the famous Nutcracker story, so if you like fun and interesting takes on traditional stories, this is the one for you and your family!

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute version

My kids really liked this variation of the Nutcracker story. It was simple and short with a modern twist. The illustrations were lovely.

[Water Viper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how original the story line was.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute modern retelling of the Nutcracker with cool, unique illustrations.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The boy in this story is mean to his sister and gets his video games taken away. He's left at home while a neighbor. When his neighbor leaves the room, the boy gets his videogame and starts playing it. Little does he know that it will lead to an adventure with the Nutcracker himself.

A cute adventure story for little boys for the holidays.

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featured in a grandma reads session.

The team that rewrote the usual Nutcracker tale turned this one upside down and inside out! Ralph Covert and G Riley Mills wrote the words, and the whimsical and lovely artwork was done by Wilson Swain - and I would be hard pressed to choose which captivated me the most - and together works so well that all reservations I had about sacrilege to one of my favorite Christmas traditions melted away completely.

Instead of Clara / Marie - Drosselmeier's niece sweeping away the show, it is Fritz, a boisterous boy who goes on the journey through the imaginary lands, and goes with the Nutcracker! There's a video game involved, the Mouse King makes a more persistent showing, a boat is launched, a Toy Town found, as well as a Gilded Gate, along with all the customary sugar plum fairies, elves and chiming clocks.

This was a longer read, and my youngest ones in the group lost interest, but the older ones stayed to the very end, saving Christmas for everyone!

[Carissa Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked out this book because I wanted to see how closely related it was to the original Nutcracker. It kept a lot of the major events the same but put a twist on it and made it more modern. For example, the main conflict involved Videogames. Typically, little girls usually enjoy The Nutcracker. However, In A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas, I believe little boys might enjoy this because the main character is a boy trying to fix his video game. This book would be great for children to read themselves because it is very easy to follow with bold, capitalized words. This book also has very strong vocabulary. I would recommend this to upper elementary. It has a lot of text but the visuals are still wonderful.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a modern take on The Nutcracker, offering an altered version of the classic story. The narrative is entertaining and the illustrations are colorful and whimsical, if a bit bizarre in places. Overall, it's a fun book to read aloud and we enjoyed reading it together.

[Alyson (Kid Lit Frenzy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting twist on the Nutcracker. There is a cd that accompanies the book which has music an a read aloud on it. This modern day version mixes the classic tale with a video game premise. Very cool.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction; Juvenile/Christmas
3 stars

This was cute. I liked that the Nutcracker was a girl in this book. A fun twist on the original story.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Put aside video games and plots to annoy brother/sister and explore this Christmas story.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vincent really enjoyed this. Fun to compare to the ballet he saw this past December.

[Kary Reyes]

Great!!

great book x kids!!!!!!! wonderful reading time! a greatly recommended book x all ages! nice version of the original version!

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Wilson Swain in Los Angeles so I was glad to get this book that he illustrated. His illustrations were wonderful and made this wacky story come alive!

[juliet espinoza · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book for kids

This is a. Very good writer and illsrater I love the pictures and the colors that they us it's a great story

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it but Jesse fell asleep. Cool pictures.

[Miki · Rating 4 out of 5]

(ebook from local library)