Beautiful gowns. [The Nutcracker by words&pictures; illustrated by Cynthia Alonso]

Step inside the classic story of The Nutcracker. With gentle, engaging text, beautiful illustrations, die cut and layered pages, all of which encourage the reader to interact with the book and turn each page to delight in the increasingly expansive spreads.

The Nutcracker by words&pictures, illustrated by Cynthia Alonso, is a very beautiful children's book. The coloring, stylistically and saturation, was perfectly seasonal and fantastically warm. The first electronic copy I received from NetGalley was an incomplete file. When I finally redownloaded the book it was only eight pages, even though it's maybe a total of 12 according to GoodReads? I just chalked that up to missing end pages, author page, index, or the like. But the story told on seven of those eight pages just felt really rushed. 

I've seen the ballet, I've seen several film adaptations, live-action and animated. The story of the Nutcracker, even when barely verbal, is not told so succinctly as this was. At least, not successfully. Going off the story I received, the character of the Nutcracker is just there, he doesn't really do anything but exist. As presented here this is the story of a young girl who dances with her toy after throwing her shoe at the biggest mouse of an infesting horde. If I'm looking to convey the classic tale I know through a book, I'm not recommending this. If I'm looking for a seasonally-themed picture book that might put a smile on a child's face, I would. 3 stars from me.

Quarto Publishing Group's The Nutcracker is due for publication November 17, 2020.