WITH the holidays peacefully wrapping up, one might think of the origin of all the nostalgia and magic associated with the time by so many children.

This gratitude and curiosity can lead to only one place, the loving work and care of adult parents and guardians, from thoughtful presents and special meals to stories.

Early on some of my personal best, festive and year-round memories were those of being read books which held the kinds of adventures to make a child ache to learn the skills to read it themselves.

The Nutcracker is one of those – a familiar and classic story and half in one’s mind on winter nights before they’ve ever formally encountered a sparkling adaptation.

This stunningly illustrated pop-up book retelling of that memorable yet always intriguing story is the perfect contender to be that adaptation for generations to come.

READ MORE: If We Were Villains is a fine festive read with shades of Shakespeare

In a whirlwind of fantasy, The Nutcracker’s miraculous tale is told with a grand pop-up image on each page. These are created expertly by Zanna Goldhawk not only to showcase a warm and sophisticated yet whimsical colour palette featuring deep greens and blues, but equally to create a full and sensory learning experience.

As Clara is presented with her unique gift on Christmas Day, the reader can feel in an instant that it is far more than a toy or a tool, as it may be seen from other angles.

As night falls, it is revealed that the nutcracker shaped like a young man in a handsome uniform is in fact just that. As he comes to life under a holiday night sky, he becomes fast friends with Clara, the girl who cared for him that day, tending a crack in his trademark nut-cracking jaw, before discovering any of his other powers.

Together, they go on adventures, from defeating small but mighty evil forces to sailing away to the fantasy land of the nutcracker prince’s origin and exploring his world with wonder.

The writing in this short series of adventures is a masterclass in the formation of that indescribable magic held dear by children – though if anyone in this world could describe it, one would walk away from this iteration certain that person would be Steve Patschke.

The engagement with the senses of Goldhawk’s illustrations is solidified by every world-building sentence, from the work of dreams such as a mouth-wateringly unforgettable description of a village made of sweets to the mundane yet extraordinary twinkling of a lovingly decorated Christmas tree.

Alongside the use of a mixture of accessible and lightly challenging vocabulary, every fun and bright detail of this book strives never to lose the push to interest and education or the sense of fun and whimsy. In the very best of children’s books, the two cannot exist without one another, and what young people are most excited to see, read about, or even touch in the case of this pop-up book format, are the very best things to show them.

There are few better choices than this fresh honouring of ETA Hoffmann’s great story.