The nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman
Ill. by Robert Ingpen. Walker Books, 2016. ISBN 9781922244550
(Age: all) Highly recommended. Christmas, Classic tale, The
Nutcracker, Friendship. This wonderful edition of the well known
story, the basis for Tchaikovsky's loved Christmas ballet, The
Nutcracker, is given in its entirety, translated from
Hoffman's original German story by Anthea Bell and given a
brilliantly enticing new set of illustrations by the marvelous
Robert Ingpen, to celebrate its bicentenary. Children and adults
alike will thrill to the complete story offered here, set alongside
seventy glorious illustrations, reminding them of Christmases long
past, of half remembered stories of the nutcracker.
When her parents' good friend, Mr Drosselmeier gives Marie and her
brother a nutcracker for Christmas, Marie loves the little figure.
Her impatient brother throws it in the corner when one of his big
teeth is cracked, but Marie cradles him and puts him in the special
place with her other toys.
Unbeknownst to her, Mr Drosselmeier has given the figure to Marie
for a reason, one he cannot tell anyone. He once built a mousetrap
so well that all the mice in the town had been trapped and removed
from the place. The mice then cursed his nephew and only he knows
what can take away that curse.
When Marie is about to go to bed, mice invade the room with her
toys, demanding she feed them or they will eat up her nutcracker.
She complies but when she runs out of food, she turns to see the
nutcracker and the other toys lined up to defeat the mice. She wakes
the next morning, confused and upset to see that her nutcracker has
gone. But Mr Drosselmeier returns that day with his nephew and Marie
realises who he is and takes him as her friend.
This beautiful story of friendship is complemented with Ingpen's
sumptuous illustrations, soft edged and glowingly detailed.
This is a beautiful story to read at Christmas, reminding children
that love and friendship are precious and will outlive all the toys
they are given. This edition includes a biography of Hoffman and
celebrates his influence on fantasy writing, while the tale written
in 1816, includes a story rarely seen, The story of the hard nut,
which tells the reader how the nutcracker came to be.
This is a magical production and deserves to be shared.
Fran Knight