Each December, generations of children delight in the ballet version of this quintessential Christmas story. But few have had the opportunity to revel in the richly detailed original tale. In this glorious edition, acclaimed children's book author and editor Janet Schulman returns to the source - E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Nutcracker And The King Of Mice. Here we meet Marie, her Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and all the other delightful characters, and we discover the answers to questions left unanswered by the ballet. An accompanying CD contains a complete reading of the text (by actress Claire Bloom), set to music from Tchaikovsky's ballet. (hardcover; 48 pp.)