Review by Booklist Review
One of the loveliest picture books based on Hoffman's story, which inspired the familiar ballet The Nutcracker, this volume offers lively illustrations and a concise, smoothly written version of the dreamlike tale. On Christmas Eve, Godfather Drosselmeyer presents Clara with a nutcracker soldier, but her brother breaks it. After she falls asleep, the Nutcracker comes to life and defeats the menacing Mouse King and his army. The Nutcracker, transformed into the Prince, takes Clara to a feast at his castle, where dancers entertain them. Clara awakens at home to find that the wooden nutcracker is now whole again. Painting in oils with a crackled varnish finish, Jay creates warm, opulent indoor settings and cool, beautiful outdoor scenes. The characters move through them with grace and elegance. A fine interpretation of this familiar tale.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Jay's delicate crackle-varnish oil paintings-equal parts elegant and whimsical-distinguish this edition of Hoffman's Nutcracker, based on Balanchine's staging of the ballet. On Christmas Eve, Clara, who looks like a doll herself, and her enchanted playthings cavort in dramatic fashion through a distant, sweets-filled dreamland. Jay's gleaming marzipan palace, pink spun-sugar trees, and peppermint-stick gates are the stuff of holiday visions, indeed. Ages 3-5. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-Jay bases the illustrations for this classic tale on the Balanchine ballet. The smooth and somewhat abbreviated retelling is suitable for reading aloud, and the art created using oil paint on paper with crackling varnish evokes the ballet without being literal restagings. The cover depicts a snow globe with Clara and the prince being pulled in a sleigh through the Land of Snow, but that motif is not reflected in the interior illustrations. Most libraries have many versions of The Nutcracker in their collections; this one is handsome and acceptable if more editions are needed.-Virginia Walter, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
There seems to be at least one new Nutcracker picture book every holiday season. The paintings in this latest offering exude nostalgia, with scenes bathed in golden light and an antiqued crackle added to the paint's surface. Even so, Jay imparts an appropriate sense of danger, combining rounded figures (an overfed cat, gowned women who look like Parcheesi pieces) with sharp, stick-thin limbs that seem liable to break any second. The text plays second fiddle to the pictures, but since this version is just telling the watered-down ballet version, that's forgivable. The art holds its own with ease, providing food and toys worth drooling over, a daring color palette, and page designs with plenty of forward motion. lolly robinson (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Adults preparing children for a performance of this popular holiday ballet often find themselves seeking a simplified adaptation of the story. This retelling, which is based on the Balanchine version of the ballet, is intended to be short enough to read through at one sitting, but the text is still too long and a little too complex for most younger children. Jay's delicate oil paintings are done with her signature folk-artstyle crackled overglaze. The characters, especially young Clara, seem more like old-fashioned dolls posed in scenes than real people or even real dancers performing a ballet. The muted colors, period costumes and large scenes filled with tiny dancers, while attractive, create an unfortunate distancing effect. Still doesn't fit the bill for ballet prepSusan Jeffers's Nutcracker (2007) is the gold standard for this purpose. (Picture book. 5-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
