The Nutcracker

by Janet Schulman (Adaptor), Renée Graef (Illustrator), E.T.A. Hoffmann

After hearing how her toy nutcracker got his ugly face, a little girl helps break the spell and changes him into a handsome prince.

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Fantasy, Childrens, Classics, Music, Fiction

40 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2005

About the author

Janet Schulman has worked in children’s book publishing as an editor and an author for more than 40 years. She is currently Editor-at-Large and Division Vice President of Random House and Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers.

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this version of The Nutracker with illustrations from one of my favorites, Renée Graef. I grew up performing in The Nutracker, seeing performed by many ballets, and I love its patchwork differences in tales and retellings. (My favorite version of all time is the Joffrey Ballet's rendition, set during the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair among immigrant communities. Unparalleled.) This one is a bit more eerie, has all of the magical toy charm possible, skips the battle, and has the most delightful, whimsical ending of all. One to read by the Christmas tree with Tchaikovsky playing in the background.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully illustrated edition. It is a combination of both an abridged version of E.T.A. Hoffman's tale and Tchaikovsky's ballet. It is whimsical and tones down the sometimes brutal detail Hoffman's version goes into. For instance Hoffman's account goes into a rather graphic description of the battle with the Mouse King and spends so much time exploring the nutcracker's backstory that you end up thinking the Mouse Queen if not being in the right to curse the princess is at least a somewhat sympathetic character. This version gets one detail wrong. The young man is to have never worn boots not always worn boots. If it is not entirely accurate why rate it so highly? Well it blends two very different versions well and sells the romance like no other version besides the animated The Nutcracker Prince. In fact the dance between the prince and Marie felt like it may have been a call back to that version. I will have to keep an eye out for this edition at the used bookstores.

[Gina House · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟 I found this paperback edition at a local antique shop and so glad that I did. It has the most lovely black and white illustrations! I wish that I could get them blown up and hang them on my wall. The adaptation of the classic story was interesting, though it was clearly a combination of new and old versions. I've only ever seen the plays or ballets and never actually read the story as a whole. I'm happy with this $1 edition and it will have a place on my Christmas reading shelf for next year.

[Kenneth Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have only seen the ballet or parts of it. This is an excellent way to get acquainted with the story. A magical story.

[Snivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

pedo nutcracker

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Actual Star Rating: 2.5 Stars***

After having read the original I was kind of worried that this would be retake of that particular story while I wasn't looking forward to it as such. And so I was amazed to find that this is a pretty decent retelling although much more geared towards a younger audience than the original. As such pretty much the rambling mass of the original is skipped above and what's included instead is the bare minimum of milestones to help the reader understand the gist of the story.

What to me, though, really felt missing was the exploration of Toyland for although this is no ballet with the music there is so much offered in the original book about this wonderful land. It's one of those places that is meant to stand out to the reader and part of the magic of the actual tale.

Otherwise the book is half black-and-white illustrations that are mostly charming and whimsical. The only complaint I have with them is that although Nutcracker is suppose to be grotesque he is actually made to look like a weird distorted sight of a gnome in this telling.

All in all this is a great introduction as well as a quick holiday read to readers who may want to get to know a bit more about the story that influenced the famous ballet.

[Eeichhorn]

I picked this one up because it's Christmas time and I love the nutcracker ballet. This book provides a good deal of back story to the ballet.
It's Christmas time in the Stahlbaum house and among the gifts young Marie receives is an antique wooden nutcracker. This nutcracker was much more than what she expected: at midnight he came to life just as an army of mice attacked the house.
The next morning Marie was assured by her parents that it was all a dream, but her Godfather Drosselmeir had a secret for Marie. He told her a tale of a princess, a mouse, queen and a boy who was turned to wood.
Could this be Marie's nutcracker? Would she be able to safe him from the mouse queen's age old curse?

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for the translation, -1 star for music...

I was excited to see that this version had the ballet music accompanying the story, but was disappointed to find the music level was too loud for the narration. Also, I expected to hear most of the ballet music, but the Overture was played so many times that I started to think, "If I hear this one more time..." There are so many pieces of music, there is no need to repeat one that many times. It got better later in the book, when the character dances occurred, but some of those were repeated also.

On a happier note, the translation/text was pretty true to the other Hoffmann versions I've read. Also, this translation fixes the "age" issue that always bothered me.

[Mr Francy Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

BASED ON THE PREMISE I GUESS I EXPECTED TOO MUCH?

I was told "this book revolves arounf a girl who owns a toy nutcracker who comes alive at night and tells her stories" Really? That's not what I got from it.

I'd more say: "This book initially follows 2 children in Germany - waiting for the doors to their drawing room to open where there Christmas Presents (handcrafted) will be. The boy is known to destory his toys, the girls is known to look after hers. One of the toys is a nutcracker. Their father assigns the girl the task of 'looking after him' and this leads to an adventure."

For me this book was ok.

I can see why people love it, but I can also see why people were disappointed in it.

3 Stars xoxo.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've seen the Nutcracker ballet every year since I was four. I've always had questions in my head about the storyline but have never read the story until now. This book didn't help any of my questions and only raised more. On the bright side, if you're looking for a quick summary or something to read to the kids on Christmas Eve, this would be a good choice. It's light and the drawings are pretty.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have several picture book versions of The Nutcracker, but my favorite is this one, illustrated by Renee Graef. Her warm and wonderful illustrations are the perfect complement to Hoffman's classic story. This is the version to buy because it also includes a CD with the story and Tchaikovsky's music.

[Susan]

This enchanting adaption of ETA Hoffmann's story of the Nutcracker fills in many of the gaps in the story as portrayed in the ballet and answers many questions about the Nutcracker's past and the reason for the anomosity between the Nutcracker and the King of the Mice. The illustrations are charming.

[Bvlmc Buchanan Verplanck Elementary School · Rating 4 out of 5]

This enchanting adaption of ETA Hoffmann's story of the Nutcracker fills in many of the gaps in the story as portrayed in the ballet and answers many questions about the Nutcracker's past and the reason for the anomosity between the Nutcracker and the King of the Mice. The illustrations are charming.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nutcracker will always be a most important Christmas tradition for me. When I was younger, I lived this story annually in my dance studio's presentation of it. Now, long out of ballet, I find the magic and joy it gave me yearly, in this book. And though reading it is not quite the same as being a part of it, I still find myself swept up in the story of the Nutcracker.

[Melissa Ganka-Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-done audio of the Nutcracker. I play Christmas audio stories for my students in December and this was a perfect blend of the actual fairytale story by ETA Hoffmann and the music from the ballet. Students who have seen the ballet enjoyed the extra details of the story that are missed in the ballet, and those who have seen the ballet enjoyed the familiar music.

[Rebekah M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I knew the general outline of the story, I’d never read this book before. It is a wonderful fairy tale and the illustrations in this version are beautiful. The boys loved it and wanted to read it over within a couple of days.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

With stunning illustrations, this edition of "The Nutcracker" combines the major elements of both the original story by E. T. A. Hoffman and the ballet in a slightly shorter and simplified children's book.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I listened to the story on CD and enjoyed it very much. Neither of us were familiar with the original story.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book, I kept thinking this was similar to the Frog Prince or Beauty and the Beast.

[Alena · Rating 5 out of 5]

sweet

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

12/3/19 Read to my children at lunch
12/9/20 Listened to the audio with Naomi & Julia
12/6/21 Read with Julia

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Christmas story

[Vaibhavi (Tunnel of books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really worth a read. Didn't hoped to like it this much. Definitely for people who crave for fairy tales. Not much to say. But really loved this book, worth reading.

[Wit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book since I was a child and I still love it

[Rodopa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful illustration and nice retelling. We read it with my 4.5 yr in one sitting.

[lys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good! I go to the Ballet every year, and because it is almost Christmas and I needed 1 more book, I decided to read it just for fun. Classic story, and very festive.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic adaptation

[Holland · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good short version of the nutcracker with some interesting sections that wouldn’t be included in the ballet. Would be better for kids in elementary or older, since it was a tiny bit scary.

[Bronwen Merrill]

Listened here:
https://youtu.be/nHhlBSJQLSM?si=n6cdj...

Delightful quick story while wrapping Christmas gifts :)