The Day Before Christmas
by Eve Bunting
illustrated by Beth Peck
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000
ISBN-13: 9780618051502
Four years after the death of her mother, seven-year-old Allie goes to The Nutcracker with her grandfather who shares the memories of the special day he had when he took Allie's mother to her first performance of the ballet.