Title The Nutcracker Author Diane Goode Illustrated By Diane Goode Publisher Random House - 1983 First Printing ---
	Title The Nutcracker Author Rita Balducci Illustrated By Barabara Lanza Publisher Western Publishing Company - 1991 First Printing ---
	Category Children Warnings None Main Characters Clara, The Nutcracker, Sugarplum Fairy Main Elements Fairies, Anthropomorphic

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The story of The Nutcracker is of course based on a ballet by Tchaikovsky. Having seen the ballet a few times, seen various adaptations for television, and these two books, I'm not sure what the "true" story is. Meaning both these books were actually quite different, though the overall story of a girl receiving the Nutcracker as a gift, and then in a dream, visiting the land of the Sugarplum Fairy, is all the same. But the names change, and the beings met in the fairy land differ too. Of the two editions I have I like the second one better, the illustrations are prettier and it seemed to follow the story more closely, at least as far as I know it.

But then my favorite version of the ballet comes from Fantasia, with the seductive fishes, the dancing mushrooms and the skating ice fairies. Everyone who celebrates Christmas should experience the Nutcracker suite in some form, especially the ballet itself. And even if you don't celebrate Christmas, the music is simply beautiful, and the tale simply magical.