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The Toymaker's Apprentice
Author:
Smith, Sherri L.
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Class:
Fiction
Age: 10-14
Language: English
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LC: PZ8.S413
Grade: 5-9
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ISBN-13: 9780399252952
LCCN: 2014045980
Imprint: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Putnam Publishing
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Pub Date: 10/13/2015
Availability: Out of Print Confirmed
List: $16.99
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Hardcover Reinforced
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Physical Description:
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384 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm
H 8.51",
W 5.67",
D 1.26",
1.1125 lbs.
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LC Series:
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Brodart Sources:
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Brodart's Insight Catalog: Teen
Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles
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Bibliographies:
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Awards:
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Horn Book Guide Titles, Rated 1 - 4
School Library Journal Starred Reviews
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Starred Reviews:
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School Library Journal
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TIPS Subjects:
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Action/Adventure
Fairy Tale
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BISAC Subjects: |
JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General
JUVENILE FICTION / Fairy Tales & Folklore / Adaptations
JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic
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LC Subjects:
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Adventure and adventurers, Fiction
Apprentices, Fiction
Fairy tales
JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General
JUVENILE FICTION / Fairy Tales & Folklore / Adaptations
JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic
Kidnapping, Fiction
Princesses, Fiction
Toy making, Fiction
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SEARS Subjects: |
Fairy tales
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Reading Programs: |
Accelerated Reader Level:
5.2
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Points: 14.0
Lexile Level:
710
Reading Counts Level:
5.4
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Points: 21.0
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| Annotations |
| Brodart's TOP Young Adult Titles | 10/01/2015 |
| When apprentice Stefan Drosselmeyer's toymaker father is kidnapped, Stefan's mysterious cousin tasks the boy with finding a magical nut, save a princess trapped as a wooden doll, and vanquis the Mouse Queen and Mouse Prince bent on ruining the Drosselmeyers. 400pp. |
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| Starred Reviews: |
| School Library Journal | 09/01/2015 |
| Gr 4-6--Part Nutcracker with a dash of Pinocchio, this middle grade debut by YA author Smith is an absorbing tale of adventure, invention, family loyalty, and sly humor. Stefan Drosselmeyer and his father, a master toymaker, are in their home in Nuremberg grieving the recent loss of Stefan's mother. Enter flamboyant cousin Christian Drosselmeyer, who involves them in a perilous quest. Christian, the master clockmaker for the kingdom of Boldavia, was held responsible for a mouse uprising, and during a fight for the kingdom, the human princess was bitten by the maniacal Mouse Queen and turned into wood. The only known cure for her condition is a krakatook, a nut that is proving impossible to find. Before Stefan and Christian can return to the search in earnest, Stefan's father is kidnapped. The quest to find him and the krakatook and save Boldavia from the vengeful Mouse Queen and her seven-headed son while escaping with their lives is almost the undoing of the Drosselmeyers. Suspense builds as the chapters alternate between human and rodent perspective. Bursting with unforgettable characters of both species (and a few others), the novel rushes along to its inevitable final battle and enlightening conclusion. The author's note describes the connection to the original Nutcracker, which inspired Alexandre Dumas's retelling and the well-known ballet. VERDICT Fans of both genres will relish this highly recommended historical fantasy. Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY. 400p. SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2015. |
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| Journal Reviews |
| Booklist | 10/01/2015 |
| Grades 4-6. In this inventive fantasy, Smith imagines an elaborate backstory for events in the Nutcracker ballet. Stefan Drosselmeyer is a kind, clever Nuremburg lad whose father, a toymaker, is kidnapped and imprisoned in Boldavia. With advice and help from his older cousin Christian and their friend Samir, Stefan travels among the squirrels to the Pagoda Tree, where he discovers how to crack the nut that will break the deformity spell binding the Boldavian princess, in hopes of setting his father free. Meanwhile, in the rodent world, Ernst is an educated but down-on-his-luck rat who becomes tutor to the Mouse Queen's heir, a seven-headed mouse princeling (later the Mouse King) who swears vengeance on Stefan after his mother's death. It's a great, sprawling story, elaborately plotted and brimful of elements such as a near-impossible quest, an apparent death overturned, and elaborate clockworks that keep the city running. While the many details and complications weigh the intertwined stories down, this full-tilt adventure will appeal to certain fantasy fans. Phelan, Carolyn. 400p. AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, c2015. |
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| Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books | 12/01/2015 |
| R. Gr. 5-7. Memories of his recently deceased mother haunt Stefan's home in nineteenth-century Nuremberg, so the young boy decides to strike out on his own, with hopes that his skills gained as his toymaker father's apprentice will earn him a job elsewhere. No sooner is Stefan out the door, though, than his peculiar uncle, Christian Drosselmeyer, requests that Stefan join him on a dangerous journey. Seven years ago, hubris led Christian, the royal clockmaker of the kingdom of Boldavia, to accidently incite an uprising of mice and rats that left the Royal Princess cursed; Christian is tasked with the responsibility of find the krakatook, a magical nut that can break the spell, and Stefan's just the boy to help him. A voyage filled with spectacular automatons, talking squirrels, and enemies at every turn ensues, culminating in a mighty battle that pits young Stefan against the seven-headed Mouse King. Stefan's story alternates with that of Ernst, an old rat and troubadour, who sings of the long ago tragedy of Hameln and wonders if the current mouse rebellion will end the same way. Smith manages to tease out the darker elements of her inspiration, the Nutcracker, while still maintaining a sense of whimsy, resulting in a story that blends wonder, melancholy, and adventure. Deft pacing builds tension both in the human and mouse worlds, compelling readers forward to the ultimate collision of the two species. Stefan makes a winning and sympathetic protagonist, but it's Ernst who steals the show, with a wit and wisdom that both entertains and intrigues. An author's note elaborates on the several iterations of the Nutcracker and Smith's fascination with the tale. KQG. 400p. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIV. OF ILLINOIS, c2015. |
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| Horn Book Guide | 05/01/2016 |
| 3. Stefan Drosselmeyer, a clockmaker's apprentice, builds clockwork jaws to crack the special nut needed to restore the princess of Boldavia after an enchanted rat bite. When the rat bites him, Stefan must take part in the ensuing rat/human war as an enchanted nutcracker. Smith's energetic tale takes off in unexpected directions within the framework of its inspiration, The Nutcracker. alb. 392pg. THE HORN BOOK, c2016. |
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| Kirkus Reviews | 07/15/2015 |
| Men and mice engage in mortal conflict in this multilayered retelling of The Nutcracker. Apprenticed to his master-toymaker father in early-19th-century Nuremberg, Stefan Drosselmeyer's world changes after his beloved mother's funeral. His clockmaker cousin and his traveling companion, an Arab, arrive from Boldavia after a seven-year quest for the "meat of a nut called a krakatook." The vengeful Queen of Mice, mother to her seven-headed royal princes, has turned the human princess of Boldavia into a wooden doll, and only that rare nut can cure her. Stefan finds the nut, and the ensuing journey to Boldavia to rescue his father, kidnapped by the mice, and cure the princess is filled with danger, mechanical toys, and a visit to wise squirrels. In alternating chapters, a troubadour rat and tutor to the mouse princes sings mournfully of his folk's disaster in Hameln, and one of those princes ruminates on his less-than-bellicose worldview. A grand battle takes place back in Nuremberg on Christmas Eve at the home of the Stahlbaums with a Nutcracker (Stefan), a slipper-tossing Marie, mechanical mice, and streets that swarm with real mice. No sweet strains of Tchaikovsky's ballet score waft through this complex tale of family devotion, revenge, and warfare. A fast-paced adventure whether or not all the characters are familiar. (author's note) (Fantasy. 10-13). 400pg. KIRKUS MEDIA LLC, c2015. |
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| Publishers Weekly | 08/10/2015 |
| Ages 10-up. Stefan Drosselmeyer's mother has just died at the start of Smith's (Orleans) fantasy riff on Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King." Stefan, apprenticed to his toy maker father, wants to ease his grief by spending his journeyman years somewhere other than his home of Napoleonic-era Nuremberg. Luckily, his father's cousin, Christian, takes him on. Christian is clock maker to the King of Boldavia, and a royal appointment promises Stefan the best working materials and the heights of prestige. However, Christian came to Nuremberg on a quest that has driven him for seven long years--and made him the enemy of every rat and mouse in the world, especially the Queen of Mice, who is attempting to make her people into an army. Smith's usage of elements from Hoffmann, Dumas's later adaptation, and the perennially popular Nutcracker ballet is extremely clever, though the dreamlike fantasy realms of Hoffmann and the solidity of Smith's Nuremberg mesh less well. Stefan is a personable protagonist, but while his story inescapably recalls the terrors and wonders of the original, it doesn't quite succeed in recreating them. (Oct.). 400p. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, c2015. |
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| ~VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine - Retired Journal) | 12/01/2015 |
| 4Q 4P M J. This retelling of the classic tale of The Nutcracker brings Stefan Drosselmeyer up against the seven-headed mouse king in a fashion not yet seen. Upon the death of his mother, Stefan concludes his apprenticeship to his father, the toymaker, and enters into service for his uncle, the royal clockmaker of Boldavia. However, his uncle is not making many clocks these days, not since his greatest project inadvertently started a war between man and the world of Rodentia--or at least the mice in it. Now Stefan must try to find a mythical krakatook nut to revive the Boldavian princess from her shriveled and wooden state caused by a bite from the mouse queen. This journey takes him across Bavaria into the intellectual world of squirrels and into negotiations with royalty. It is immediately obvious that The Toymaker's Apprentice is a fairy tale retelling. What fairy tale, however, is not so obvious. References to The Pied Piper and even Pinocchio appear throughout the story. Stefan's narrative is accompanied by that of the mouse king, the mouse king's tutor, and, on occasion, both his father and uncle. This addition provides a complete story that is not at all distracting or disruptive. Exceedingly well done, this is a great fantasy novel and is highly recommended for middle grade readers, fans of fantasy, and lovers of The Nutcracker.--Kristi Sadowski. 400p. VOICE OF YOUTH ADVOCATES, c2015. |
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9780399252952,dl.it[0].title
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