The Nutcracker
Grade 4-8–After illustratingThe Nutcracker and the Mouse-King(Picture Book Studio, 1983; o.p.), Zwerger has taken on the challenge of creating a completely different set of images almost a quarter century later. She has succeeded admirably. This version features somewhat surreal, almost theatrically presented tableaux, delicately and darkly rendered in pen and ink and watercolor. Readers are far removed from the action–sometimes back in the nosebleed section, as opposed to the earlier edition, in which readers were right in the middle of everything. The 2004 Marie is a china doll of a girl, unlike the more realistically presented character of the past. This would be a hard version to share with a group, though Koppe's retelling is more accessible and detailed than the earlier title. ThisNutcrackerdramatically illustrates the growth and evolution of an important illustrator.–M. A.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.