The Nutcracker

Maurice Sendak’s The Nutcracker offers a strikingly original vision of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic Christmas tale. Created in conjunction with Sendak’s celebrated set and costume designs for the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 1983 production, this book presents the familiar story of Clara, her mysterious godfather Drosselmeier, and the enchanted journey to the Kingdom of Sweets with fresh intensity.

Rather than softening Hoffmann’s darker themes, Sendak embraced the story’s strangeness and mystery, weaving together images that are whimsical, dreamlike, and at times unsettling. His richly detailed illustrations draw the reader into a world where childhood wonder is inseparable from fear and transformation. The Nutcracker stands apart from more traditional retellings, revealing Sendak’s belief that children’s stories can hold both beauty and shadow.