Lord of the Nutcracker Men

Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Nutcracker Men
Review: 10-year old Johnny's father is a toy maker. He made Johnny some toy soldiers. Johnny loves to play war with his soldiers. Then at the beginning of World War I, Johnny's father enlists in the army and goes to war. He sends Johnny a lot of letters and with each letter he sends him another toy soldier. Johnny loves these soldiers and he keeps playing war with them. After awhile, he realises that the battles that he creates in his Aunt's backyard with his toy soldiers end up happening on the real battlefield. When he tells his aunt that he thinks he is controlling what happens in the war, she doesn't believe him. This was a really good book that I would recommend to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Good Historical Fiction
Review: A Review by Nate

Johny is a young boy living in France in the year 1914. Johny's father is an amazing toy maker. He made his son an entire army of nutcracker men. Johny loves to command his small wooden soldiers across his kitchen floor. When the war breaks out Johny sees many parades for soldiers going off to fight in the war. He notices that his father hasn't gone off yet. Sadly enough it is because his height. He is far too short. Eventually the limit is changed enough for johny's dad. After his father goes to war Johny's mother sends Johny on a train to his aunt's house. The house is out in the middle of no where. There he learns many valuable life lessons.

This book is certainly good historical fiction. The beginning is very good. It sets the scene quite nicely. It shows you the characters and how they feel. The writer gives details in a way you can truly like you are there with Johny every step of the way. You are there when he is on the kitchen floor or on the crowded train. You always know how he is feeling. Where ever he is. The writer has a great eye for details. You know what is happening always. The characters emotions feel very real and quite believable. I like this book.

I would certainly recommend this book to any historical fiction readers. Even to younger readers. It is not too long or difficult.

Rating:
Summary: A Moving Read for Readers Age 9 to Adult
Review: Both my 11-year-old son and I found this book, set during World War I, compelling and touching. The 10-year-old hero is left with a relative when his father, a toy maker, goes off to fight in the war. His father sends him handmade toy soldiers from the front, and he uses them to create his own make-believe war. The war begins to mirror his pretend battles. The author paints a very effective picture of the horrors of that war, and how it effected those on the homefront.

Rating:
Summary: Lord of the Nutcracker Men
Review: I bought this book for my 10-year-old and he loved it, as much or more than Pullman, Potter, Redwall, etc. So now I'm reading it, and it's gripping. The characters are true, the plot sneaks up on you and then grabs you by the throat, and it will make you feel like you're ten all over again.

Rating:
Summary: Book of the Year
Review: I bought this book for my 10-year-old and he loved it, as much or more than Pullman, Potter, Redwall, etc. So now I'm reading it, and it's gripping. The characters are true, the plot sneaks up on you and then grabs you by the throat, and it will make you feel like you're ten all over again.

Rating:
Summary: Lord Of The Nutcracker Men (6-7)
Review: Lord Of The Nutcracker Men starts with a boy named Johny. Johny is ten years old. On his eleventh birthday he gets a small army of nutcracker men from his dad. From that day on he gets nutcracker every day his dad comes back from work. Now he has a whole army of nutcrackers. Johny's dad is going into the war but he's a foot too short. But things go his way and he makes it through. Every time Johny's dad sends a letter their is a nutcracker for him to add to his collection of nutcrackers. The war is interfering with england so Johny has to move to his aunts house but he would'nt have his mother with him. So he's all by himself on the train going to hie aunts house that he never knew he existed.

I think you should read this book because it takes you through a young boys life with a da in the war, a mom indangered at england and a aunt that he did'nt know

Rating:
Summary: Nutcracker men
Review: When I rule the world every man, woman, and child will be handed a copy of Iain Lawrence's brilliant "Lord of the Nutcracker Men" for their home library. Every country in the world will have it translated. And every human being will know it. Too high praise for a book that so few people (let alone librarians and booksellers) have heard of? Not at all. The amount of reception a book receives is not always indicative of how good it is. And this book is good. Boy oh boy, is it good.

Taking the perspective of a ten-year-old boy during the first year of World War One, Iain Lawrence draws on his own knowledge (and intense research as well) to bring us a story of children during wartime. Johnny's father is a toy maker, and before going to fight the front lines he gives Johnny a set of handsome Nutcracker men to play with. As the war continues, Johnny's father sends his son hand-carved soldier to fight the German Nutcrackers. But Johnny comes to believe these soldiers carry a power beyond his own private games. As he plays with his toys he hears of battles frighteningly similar to the ones he's created. Soon Johnny comes to believe that the actions he takes in playing influence the real battles in France.

This book is about war. The dirt, fatigue, and mindlessness of it. Drawing on the Iliad, Lawrence draws definitive connections between Troy and World War One that are eerily credible. As Johnny moves from loving the excitement of war (as a child does) to hating it (as an adult would) his opinion of fate, the gods, and God himself waver between fear and love. Beautifully written passages display his father's disillusionment as he deals with constant shelling, death, and despair. Though he never comes out and says it, the audience understands that this war really did mark the end of chivalry. Certainly we remember some dashing figures from this time. The Red Baron. Lawrence of Arabia. But for most soldiers it was a dirty filthy war. Based on dirt alone I highly recommend pairing this book with Karen Hesse's "Out of the Dust". You'll never want to leave your shower again.

After the story, Lawrence clears up many of the facts portrayed within the story, elevating it from interesting fiction to a novella based in reality. Yes, there really was a Christmas Truce of 1914 where Germans and Brits climbed out of their trenches into the No Man's Land to celebrate Christmas together. Yes the village of Cliffe had their railway bombed by the Germans. Lawrence also notes that the supernatural was invoked more than a few times during the long years of the war. This feeling is well replicated in his book. The story wavers between what is real and what is imagined brilliantly. It never changes its tone (which is to say, it never starts out as a historical drama and suddenly turns sci-fi) and there are moments of otherworldliness that are nothing if not poignant.

It is a gory story. It has moments of horror and despair. But it is also an honest story. This tells a tale of a country in which war was seen as a glorious outing, only to turn into more death than anyone could have ever imagined. Sound familiar? When governments can make war seem wonderful, people will buy into the myth. It takes books like, "Lord of the Nutcracker Men" to remind us of what's really important in life.

"We're getting better at fighting wars. We've got them running like machines now: faster, more efficient."
"I wish we'd get better at not fighting them," I said.
"That's a fine thought," said Mr. Tuttle.

Rating:
Summary: Dance dance, wherever you may be
Review: When I rule the world every man, woman, and child will be handed a copy of Iain Lawrence's brilliant "Lord of the Nutcracker Men" for their home library. Every country in the world will have it translated. And every human being will know it. Too high praise for a book that so few people (let alone librarians and booksellers) have heard of? Not at all. The amount of reception a book receives is not always indicative of how good it is. And this book is good. Boy oh boy, is it good.

Taking the perspective of a ten-year-old boy during the first year of World War One, Iain Lawrence draws on his own knowledge (and intense research as well) to bring us a story of children during wartime. Johnny's father is a toy maker, and before going to fight the front lines he gives Johnny a set of handsome Nutcracker men to play with. As the war continues, Johnny's father sends his son hand-carved soldier to fight the German Nutcrackers. But Johnny comes to believe these soldiers carry a power beyond his own private games. As he plays with his toys he hears of battles frighteningly similar to the ones he's created. Soon Johnny comes to believe that the actions he takes in playing influence the real battles in France.

This book is about war. The dirt, fatigue, and mindlessness of it. Drawing on the Iliad, Lawrence draws definitive connections between Troy and World War One that are eerily credible. As Johnny moves from loving the excitement of war (as a child does) to hating it (as an adult would) his opinion of fate, the gods, and God himself waver between fear and love. Beautifully written passages display his father's disillusionment as he deals with constant shelling, death, and despair. Though he never comes out and says it, the audience understands that this war really did mark the end of chivalry. Certainly we remember some dashing figures from this time. The Red Baron. Lawrence of Arabia. But for most soldiers it was a dirty filthy war. Based on dirt alone I highly recommend pairing this book with Karen Hesse's "Out of the Dust". You'll never want to leave your shower again.

After the story, Lawrence clears up many of the facts portrayed within the story, elevating it from interesting fiction to a novella based in reality. Yes, there really was a Christmas Truce of 1914 where Germans and Brits climbed out of their trenches into the No Man's Land to celebrate Christmas together. Yes the village of Cliffe had their railway bombed by the Germans. Lawrence also notes that the supernatural was invoked more than a few times during the long years of the war. This feeling is well replicated in his book. The story wavers between what is real and what is imagined brilliantly. It never changes its tone (which is to say, it never starts out as a historical drama and suddenly turns sci-fi) and there are moments of otherworldliness that are nothing if not poignant.

It is a gory story. It has moments of horror and despair. But it is also an honest story. This tells a tale of a country in which war was seen as a glorious outing, only to turn into more death than anyone could have ever imagined. Sound familiar? When governments can make war seem wonderful, people will buy into the myth. It takes books like, "Lord of the Nutcracker Men" to remind us of what's really important in life.

"We're getting better at fighting wars. We've got them running like machines now: faster, more efficient."
"I wish we'd get better at not fighting them," I said.
"That's a fine thought," said Mr. Tuttle.