First sentence: It was Christmas Eve at the Stahlbaums' house. Marie and her little brother, Fritz, were listening at the ballroom door, waiting for the party to begin.
Premise/plot: An age-appropriate retelling of the Nutcracker ballet. In the author's note, Jeffers mentions that while there are plenty of Nutcracker adaptations and retellings, they tend to be very text-heavy. Her book seeks to tell the familiar story of the ballet in a way that you could actually share it with young children.
My thoughts: I love the Nutcracker. I do. This retelling worked very well for me. I liked the text very much. It was just the right amount of text, in my opinion. It seemed only right, to me at least, that so much is conveyed visually through the illustrations. The illustrations take center-stage. Now I do love the text, but I do think one could flip through the illustrations and get the main idea of the story.
Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10
© 2015 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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