Another picture book version of the traditional holiday ballet is enhanced by the addition of a 78-minute CD of Tchaikovsky’s music performed by the Utah Symphony Orchestra. The text is a straightforward retelling of the ballet’s plot. In this version the young girl is named Marie and her Christmas Eve adventure ends as she and the prince fly away from the Land of Sweets in a sled drawn by reindeer.
The watercolor illustrations of the 19th century setting present the tale as a story rather than as a ballet. The illustrations are hazy and dreamlike and somewhat frightening. Some of the faces are very stern and the seven headed mouse king is truly nightmarish.
Janell Pearce-Mattheus, Youth Services Librarian, Whitmore Library.
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