FICTION

The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas

by Keith BROCKETT
illus. by Joseph Cowman. 32p. Sleeping Bear. 2015. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781585368891. LC 2015001608.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 2—The night before the Christmas day performance of The Nutcracker, disaster strikes. The programs are misprinted. Costumes are torn. The stagehands get sick. Fortunately, Santa and his elves are on hand to save the day. Told in the familiar anapestic tetrameter of Clement Moore's "Twas the Night Before Christmas," this mash-up of the two Christmas classics may appeal to children who are familiar with both. This is not a retelling of The Nutcracker story, although the illustrations do portray cute multiracial children dressed in traditional costumes for the ballet.
VERDICT Additional holiday fare.
Reviewed by Virginia Walter UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
On The Nutcracker's opening night, chaos spreads backstage in a litany of costume, set, and prop problems. It looks as though the show will be canceled--but then St. Nicholas and the (actual) Sugar-Plum Fairy come to the rescue. This ballet-centric parody capably follows the cadence and rhyme scheme of "The Night Before Christmas." Humor and holiday wonder infuse the text and dynamic illustrations.
 , Oct 01, 2015

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