Nutcracker

Name: Nutcracker
Author: E. T. A. Hoffmann
ISBN: 9781665977777

by E. T. A. Hoffmann

128 pages2025Simon & Schuster Children's PublishingISBN 9781665977777

Children'sClassicsFictionScience FictionFantasy

About this book

E.T.A. Hoffmann’s whimsical novella, originally titled Nutcracker and Mouse King and the inspiration behind Tchaikovsky’s ballet, now has a festive new look in this beautiful edition. When Maria is given a nutcracker by her mysterious Godfather Drosselmeier, it seems like an ordinary gift. But as the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve, she finds her nutcracker embroiled in a fight with a sinister Mouse King—no ordinary toy after all, but a cursed hero. Together, they embark on a fantastical journey, encountering a host of charming characters. Filled with Christmas magic and festive scenes full of presents, sugarplums, and gingerbread, this imaginative classic has been a part of annual holiday celebrations for generations.

Publication Details

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Published: 2025
Pages: 128
ISBN: 9781665977777
Language: en

About E. T. A. Hoffmann

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. His stories form the basis of Jacques Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann, in which Hoffmann appears (heavily fictionalized) as the hero. He is also the author of the novella The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, on which Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is based. The ballet Coppélia is based on two other stories that Hoffmann wrote, while Schumann's Kreisleriana is based on Hoffmann's character Johannes Kreisler.