Book Advent 2020: Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker Posted on November 3, 2020 by Jennie 0 View this post on Instagram Today is Day 2 of our extended book advent and I am starting a few Nutcracker themed days. We are a house of dancers and performers and one of the things we most associate with Christmas is theatre, singing and dancing. Last year we saw a children’s version of The Nutcracker and a Russian ballet performance. A few years ago Esther and I saw the ballet at The Coliseum in London. It was a wonderful magical experience and this year we were supposed to be taking Bea. Instead we will read ALL The Nutcracker themed books and dance along to the ballet at home. This beautiful book is part of the Ella Bella Ballerina series written and illustrated by the marvellous @mrjamesmayhew My children love these books. They explore the stories behind famous ballets as Ella Bella magically dances into the stories. In The Nutcracker Ella Bella finds Clara asleep beneath the Christmas tree holding a wooden nutcracker. Ella Bella and Clara dance around the Christmas tree. They magically become smaller and notice they are surrounded by mice. The wooden nutcracker comes to life and marches with his toy soldiers to protect Ella and Clara. Clara helps to defeat the mouse king and the nutcracker transforms into a handsome prince. Ella and Clara travel with the prince to his magical kingdom. They meet The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Land of Sweets. They join in with a wonderful enchanted Christmas party before Ella Bella finds herself back on the stage at her ballet school. The Nutcracker is a classic Christmas ballet and a perfect first ballet for young dancers to see. The original story is German and the famous music was composed by Tchaikovsky. For me The Nutcracker is part and parcel of Christmas, it just would not be right without it. This beautiful book brings the story to life for young children. An enchanting magical adventure full of the wonder of the season. A perfect book to get everyone into the Christmas spirit x @hachettekids #ellabella #ellabellaballerina #ellabellaballerinaandthenutcracker #edspirereadschristmas A post shared by Jennie Bookish Play & Learning (@edspire) on Nov 3, 2020 at 4:05am PST
