This book is breathtakingly beautiful

The story of the first ever performance of The Nutcracker

A fictional story based on a real life event

Inspired by real life characters

Including a cameo from Anna Pavlova!

This would be a beautiful gift for young dancers and young readers

For anyone who loves The Nutcracker

And for those who love the magic of Christmas

It would also make a lovely end of term gift for a dance teacher

We have fallen head over heels in love with this wonderful festive story

A Dancer’s Dream

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This book!!! If you are looking for a book to gift to a young ballerina this Christmas then look no further, this is it!! Day 7 of our extended book advent and we read A Dancer’s Dream by @followtheyellow and @lizzy_stewart It is a stunning book filled with the awe and wonder of the theatre and the magic of Christmas. This is the real story of The Nutcracker. A fictional story based on the first ever production of The Nutcracker ballet in the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in December 1892. The story is of a 12 year old dancer at the Imperial Ballet School. She is chosen to play Clara. Stana dances with heart. Her troubled family life means she is filled with emotion and the music of Mr Tchaikovsky comforts her and she can imagine the pictures of his music in her head. The excitement of the audition is beautifully written and tells of how such situations can test even the best of friendships. Stana finds the rehearsals hard. Mr Tchaikovsky is kind to her and she tells him about her troubles at home. Stana finds dancing a distraction and a comfort but her feelings for the ballet and her worries about home get muddled and she has a nightmare. The performance of The Nutcracker is not received well by critics. What the book captures wonderfully is the excitement of being backstage looking out over the footlights catching glimpses of the audience. The nervous waiting in the wings to go on is written and illustrated beautifully as is the feeling of losing yourself in the music and your performance. This book is a delight to read out loud to entranced little dancers with big dreams. There are a few heartwarming moments for Stana as the story goes on and despite her worries and bad dreams her family’s story has a happy ending, one of her disappointed ballet friends turns out to be someone very special and we all know that in spite of a mixed reaction to that first performance of The Nutcracker, the story of the ballet has a happy ending too. The Nutcracker has become synonymous with Christmas all around the world. This book tells how The Nutcracker began, it tells little girls that dreams can come true & it fills us with the magic of Christmas

A post shared by Jennie Bookish Play & Learning (@edspire) on Nov 9, 2020 at 1:55am PST