A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas
by Ralph Covert & G. Riley Mills
illustrated by Wilson Swain
Date: 2009
Publisher: Chronicle Books LLC
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 28
Format: e-book
Source: library
This is no ordinary Nutcracker! This time, it's Fritz's story. The traditional Nutcracker tale gets turned on its head in this rollicking Christmas adventure, based on the hit musical A Nutty Nutcracker Christmas by the popular family music rock star Ralph Covert and playwright G. Riley Mills.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
As if privileged little white boys don't have enough stories for them already! This book is kind of insulting. Not only does Fritz get rewarded for his bad behaviour with an amazing adventure, he ends up having to save a girl because she's too weak... never mind that she's the Nutcracker and was the one who originally saved the day (somehow, she's magically too weak to do the exact same thing when a boy is around).
This is just an unnecessary twist on the original story. The illustrations are nothing special.
I can't get past the sexism. The fact that this book was written by two men and illustrated by yet another makes it seem even more like a male fantasy: get away with bad behaviour and save the weak female. Nope, sorry. It's the 21st century; if you're going to update a story from the 1800s by including something modern like video games, don't keep the gender mores stuck in the past.
Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 1/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5
Overall: 1.33 out of 5
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