The Nutcracker Ballet

The Nutcracker Ballet--beloved by children, supported by adults, an opportunity for young ballet students to dance and traipse the boards. Ah, the Nutcracker! Do you remember your first time to see this wonderland of ballet? Were you as confused as I was? Before ever taking a child to this ballet, please introduce her or him to the story. "The Nutcracker Ballet" by Vladimir Vagin is a story told with clarity and illustrated with detail. It's a great place to start. On the two pages following the title page is a row of houses, one of which is the setting for the party. Since the time period is the late 1800's, when Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the music for the story by E.T.A. Hoffman, attention to period detail is important. The top half of the first page of the story shows children peeking through the keyhole (remember those?) at the adult party inside. On the wall is a sconce of glowing, lighted candles. Parquet floors are shown in the M design. In the bottom half is the script wrapped in gold bars and red ribbons and bedecked with holly. A beaded ribbon is tied around a single walnut sitting atop the I of It in the narrative. The next page shows a decorated tree, including little lighted candles as was once popular before electric lights. The detail is truly incredible. What is most helpful, however, is the clarity of the story. This is a book in which text and illustration work together to tell a magical story: a battle between good and evil with Clara, the girl, striking the winning blow. The VERY BEST aspect of this version is the perspective. The child/viewer is right there on the floor at eye level with the soldiers and mice, almost a part of the battle scene. It's a little scary, but not if that child is sitting next to you or in your lap. The page that shows the prince's Castle Land is truly fantastic: the Land of Sweets that looks like a confectioner's greatest fantasy. Pink trees with peppermint in various colors, topiary trees of more fantasia shapes and colors, gingerbread houses and spires. Nothing is simple or plain. The Sugarplum Fairy is most striking of all. Instead of a confection color, she is wearing a black dress highlighted by plum blossoms, leaves, and ripe plums. Her attendants are more like angels from medieval paintings. It is all so delightful. And at the end, when Clara awakes from her dream and has had her adventure, she realizes that "magic is the best present of all." Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Now your child can go to the ballet and understand the story. I did.

If you have ever gone to the Nutcracker Ballet and didn't quite understand what was going on this book will be a great help. My daughter and I went when she was five. A few months later she found this book at her school library. She couldn't put it down. She wanted a copy of her own. The next year when we went to see The Nutcracker Ballet again she really understood what was going on and said she enjoyed it alot more than the first time she saw it. It is a must for any little girl.

My daughter and I were repeatedly drawn back to this book because of the extraordinary illustrations. We have read many versions of this story and have found this one to really bring the ballet to life right before your eyes. The pictures are magical! It's a "must have" for any child who loves the Nutcracker.