A perennial favourite of many people is the story of The Nutcracker. I’ve seen bits of it done in ballet form, and a play I took my lad to once. I’ve seen it presented in a variety of ways, and now, thanks to FirstSecond books I have been able to see it as a graphic novel. Come on, let me show you The Nutcracker and the Mouse King: the Graphic Novel!
The Details
Geared for youth 6-10 years old, The Nutcraker and the Mouse King: the Graphic Novel is 144 pages of cleanly illustrated work. Natalie Andrewson not only illustrated this novel, but provided the adaptation as well. I am reviewing this ARC copy for Raincoast Books.
From the cover
Of all the gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve, only one captures Marie Stahlbaum’s heart: a humble nutcracker. ……
. . . and an ancient curse that can only be broken with the help of a true friend.
…. and her dream world threatened, Marie will have to find the strength to stand up for her nutcracker – no matter what it takes.
Haven’t we all seen the dance of the sugar plum fairy? This story is a wee bit different than the ballet adaptation. Every creator/adaptor puts their own spin right?
What you find in The Nutcracker
You will find colourful panels filling every page. The art work was not particularly my style, but colourful and suitable to the story.
The text was really easy to read. You’ll find it mostly a standard black with occasional big variations in size and style for emphasis. It was a retelling of the story and some details from the original German book by Hoffmann were remade to fit a graphic novel. style. It’s not a light airy read but one filled with dreams and obsessive devotion and in the end…. freedom with imagination wins out.
Ms. Andrewson allowed her interpretation of this classic story to shine through. It’s quite different than the versions I’ve seen before, but it all turns out good in the end.
Should you get The Nutcracker and The Mouse King?
Oh… such mixed opinions of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King: A Graphic Novel that I have.
There is much I like. But some younger readers might be alarmed by the dream sequences. I am fairly easily alarmed, I just figure if something makes me feel a bit alarmed, some children might be the same.
The story itself…good triumphing? That’s a good thing and worth reading through.
And introducing children to a classic story? That’s an excellent thing to do.
So know your children. Consider their sensitivities and perhaps read together, or be available to talk it all through.
Lori says
Ooh, I do not like the looks of this one. I love all things Nutcracker related but the orange and black is just wrong for this story, even considering the original. Graphic novels are a hard sell for me because so much of it is dependent on the illustrations and they are not done in the beautiful, story-telling way that stories like this one deserve.
Annette1 says
I struggled with this one.