My First Story Orchestra: The Nutcracker

We love the larger Story Orchestra books, but my baby wants to read them with the older kids and he tends to tear or bend the pages of the books. I have always thought they should make a board book version, and this is exceptional! The beautiful illustrations are just like the large version, and the buttons are even easier for little hands to push. It has a switch to turn off the sound on the back and I appreciate the screw that secures the button battery in place so little hands can’t access it. It has a very short, simple version of the storyline which is perfect for the attention span of my one-year-old. I am so grateful for Story Orchestra and these beautiful books that help my kids fall in love with wonderful stories, music, and artwork! Currently only this book and Swan Lake have been released in board books, but I hope Story Orchestra will continue to release board book versions of all the classics they have published!

The illustrations are very cute. The problem is with the music. I opened the book and turned on the sound as directed. The six musical selections worked fine at first. Then one by one they stopped working as the night wore on (this is over the course of less than one hour.) After an hour, only two of the musical selections were still working. Very disappointing!

This is a lovely book for children. The pictures are colorful and enticing, and the short bit of music that plays are memorable stanzas from the ballet. It is a terrific exposure to some classical music and shows. My only complaint is the button to press on each page seems a bit small and can be hard to press or be unnoticeable as it blends into the wonderful pictures, But it gets the job done and I would highly recommend this book and the whole series to anyone wanting their young child to become familiar with some of the classics. The age range for this book is quite variable, in my opinion, so don't hesitate to think a younger child and a slightly older child wouldn't enjoy it. They will. And as an adult, I love it!

My 2 year old loves this book. Illustrations are intriguing and it’s a nice introduction to the story of the nutcracker ballet. The music clips on each page have a nice sound quality, but unfortunately the buttons stopped working for no apparent reason just a few weeks after purchasing. About two months after purchasing, only 2 buttons in the book continue to work.

Obsessed with this. My toddler constantly wants to read & play the music. Such a cute find.

My daughter LOVES this book but the buttons do wear out quickly. I originally purchased this from Costco and two pages stopped working and they didn't have anymore to exchange. So I bought this one on Amazon. So far only one page has stopped working. My daughter still loves it but I wish it was better quality.

I purchased a lot of these books because I saw how very engaged my 3 year old granddaughter was as we sat and read one together. Of all her books she’ll choose these to read one after the other the most!

August 2025 update... only a few buttons work ... the sound on most pages is not functional. Also, it's not a battery issue. We tried replacing the batteries in both books without any luck so these failures are likely due to a design or manufacturing problem. It's a shame because my almost 2 year old grand daughter used to love this book when it functioned properly but there's no way I'm purchasing this same book a third time. I bought this book because it was one of my 1.5 yo granddaughter's favorite books and several pages stopped working. Also, we replaced the battery but still, the same pages wouldn't play music. Note: I don't know where her first book was purchased from. But the second book is the one I purchased here through Amazon and within a week, a few pages stopped playing music. several pages stopped working on that one. :(

After a few months only, the second and last pages are not working anymore. Even after changing batteries. We bought another book from the same collection (swan lake) and it has the exact same issue, also with the second and last pages. How do we fix this? Is there any customer service? It's a pitty as the books look nice but we paid for audio books and we end up with sounds that are not working... may we have some help here?

Tanto mi hija como yo amamos el libro, las canciones son lindas y las ilustraciones también pero en menos de un mes dejaron de funcionar algunas de las paginas, al principio pensamos que eran las pilas pero al cambiarlas por unas nuevas, el libro siguió sin servir. Es realmente una lástima porque en verdad el libro es muy bello :(

Harika bir kitap bebeğim daha ona göstermeden tüm sayfaların müzikleriyle oynadı 15 aylık. Tam yaşına uygun bir kitap herkese tavsiye ederim

Got this for my one year old and also got one for my niece who’s younger and they both loved it and so did I! Lovely little book!

Really disappointed. Several of the buttons don’t work, which has been a real shame as this was a gift for my daughter. Save your money & buy a different musical book.