FICTION

The Nutcracker in Harlem

by T.E. MCMORROW
illus. by James Ransome. 32p. HarperCollins/Harper. Sept. 2017. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780061175985.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 3—Marie, an African American child, gets a drummer nutcracker figure from her Uncle Cab for Christmas and dreams about toy soldiers coming to life and their battle with the army of mice. Set in Harlem in the 1920s, this version of the classic tale features black characters, and the music is jazz, not Tchaikovsky. Ransome's watercolor illustrations enhance the story handsomely, and the author's end note gives a brief background on the Harlem Renaissance.
VERDICT This is a fine addition to the canon of retellings of the E.T.A. Hoffmann tale and the perennially favorite holiday ballet.
Reviewed by Virginia Walter, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
McMorrow's atmospheric Nutcracker re-visioning is set in Harlem's Sugar Hill in the 1920s. This version's Marie receives a drummer boy nutcracker at a Christmas Eve party where she feels everyone else has musical talent, and finds her own voice through a dream (or is it?) in which her drumming halts a mouse battle. Ransome's watercolors, full of rich dark blues and reds, ably transition from bustling party scenes to Marie's exciting dream to the hushed nighttime world. An author's note cites the transformative power of music and dance during the Harlem Renaissance and in the Tchaikovsky ballet as well as identifying the real-life counterparts to the story's party guests Uncle Cab (Cab Calloway) and Miss Addie (Adelaide Hall). shoshana flax
 , Sep 01, 2017

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