I'm kinda familiar with Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker ballet. I've attempted to watch it a couple of times. But by about the time the Nutcracker shows up, I would get bored and go to something else. What I didn't know was that The Nutcracker wasn't originally a ballet. It was a novel written in Germany and later adapted into English by Alexandre Dumas. This graphic novel takes its inspiration from the original German text by E.T.A. Hoffman.
On a snowy Christmas morning, a young girl named Marie discovers a wooden Nutcracker underneath her Christmas tree. Nobody seems to know how it got there. But that doesn't matter to Marie. She's completely enamored with it.
Later that night as Marie plays with the Nutcracker, a mouse in Royal garb attacks. The Nutcracker comes to life and beats back the Mouse King. However, the war is far from over. During the skirmish, Marie injures her arm, which becomes infected and she's afflicted with a terrible fever. As she recovers, an old family friend regales Marie and her brother, Fitz with a story of a faraway kingdom besieged by mice.
As the story unfolds, Marie begins to suspect that there's a hint of truth behind the fairy tale. Nightly, the Mouse King torments her with threats against the Nutcracker. Final conflict is looming. Can Marie break an antique curse and save not only the Nutcracker but her own family from the threat of the kingdom of mice?
Written and illustrated by North Carolina native Natalie Andrewson, this was a delightful holiday tale that started off kinda weird. I don't blame Andrewson for that. I think it's the fault of E.T.A. Hoffman. Plus whatever prior knowledge I had of the ballet was probably tampering with how the story unfolded for me. For years I always thought that the weird old family friend with an eye patch, Herr Drosselmeyer, was in love with Marie and thought it was kinda creepy. Man, did I get that part of the ballet wrong...
Andrewson's art was wonderful. I was saddened to learn that some of her childhood art teachers didn't encourage her more cartoonish style. As a culinary teacher, I try to teach my students the basics. But I then try to encourage their creativity with the dishes they practice to thrive past the set guidelines of their recipes. I'm glad Andrewson didn't give up on her personal style. This book would have been severely lacking without that attention to detail that I just loved. I also marveled at how traditional 1800s German Yule time she made everything look.
This adaptation is recommended for readers aged 6-10 years old. I think 6 might be a bit too young. 7 too. This is a very wordy book. So unless there's an older trusted adult helping, this might seem like a mighty task for a first grader to read on their own.
Parents have been bringing younger children to performances of The Nutcracker for generations. However, with the graphic novel, there's several scenes of war and violence. The Nutcracker and Marie get bloodied. A lot of mice die as do a couple of toy soldiers. Plus Marie and her brother Fitz are pretty disrespectful to their parents and they tease elderly Drosselmeyer for his ugly appearance. Christmas stories are filled with horrible people learning the true meaning of Christmas. So parents and guardians: take that into account when presenting this to the young reader in your life
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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