I loved how wonderfully whimsical this book was! I have never read the original nutcracker story and have only seen the ballet performed when I was very young. But from what I do know of the basic storyline, it seems like this follows it very closely, changing up some things here and there. Honestly I’m fine with the change in the ending as it seems kind of weird to me that a child was getting married. I know, this used to happen, but I’m from modern times and it’s weird to me.

Anyways, the artwork flowed perfectly with the story to make it come across as even more whimsical and fun. It’s fun to think of all the toys coming alive at night and having this grand battle because of a curse placed by a rat from a silly story. On top of the general artwork, I also really loved the borders that were done around each chapter opening. I think this would be a fantastic story to read together with kids on New Years Eve! ( )

This was a cute Christmassy story with some dark moments. Nothing wrong with the story at all, but I just didn’t find the art style engaging. I almost dnf this ( )