The Emperor's New Clothes : A Tale Set in China

Rating:
Summary: Good version, beautifully illustrated
Review: As a mother of a 28-month-old, I often feel that children's fairy tales should only be read by adults because such stories tend to be filled with objectionable levels of text and illustrations reflecting sexist, heterosexist, racist, violent and outright scary themes. (Despite Bettleheim's views on the uses of enchantment for children, I don't always agree that such content is useful or even benign for contemporary young children given the realities of today's American culture and media.) In order to familiarize our son for an upcoming children's musical theater production of The Emperor's New Clothes, I have been searching for the least objectionable of such books. I found 2 other versions that were barely passable but this one, by Demi, is not just passable but actually good. The illustrations are classic Demi (i.e. stunningly beautiful), including some fold-out 3 and 4 page panoramas. The text is straightforward, appropriately simple and clear but not wordy. This combination of stunning pictures and clear text make it a great read-aloud for toddlers and pre-schoolers and a beautiful book for adults to enjoy. The story is well-told with all the key plot elements included but without offending social-political sensitivies. Though I recognize that monarchies were just as objectionable in ancient China as they were in the Western world, the Chinese setting did help to make the story more palatable for my pro-democracy mind and it is nice to have a setting with exposure to a different culture as the incidental backdrop instead of being the obvious focus. I would highly recommend this book even if you don't have a particular event requiring a version of this classic tale.

Rating:
Summary: A Chinese-style version of the classic tale.
Review: Demi retells Hans Christian Anderson's tale of "The Emperor's New Clothes" with Chinese-style illustrations. Always a pleasure, her artwork in this book- bold compositions with bright colors and lots of "gold leaf"- is similar to that in many of her other books, such as "Kites: Magic Wishes That Fly in the Sky." Her use of Chinese symbols and imagery here is not as relevant here as it is in her "Kites" book; it merely provides a new twist to an old tale. The book has several fold-out spreads, which kids enjoy, but these are not integral to the story as they are in her magnificent book, "One Grain of Rice: A Mathmatical Folktale." The ending of Demi's version of this fairy tale is not quite satisfactory: we do not see the emperor embarrassed by his situation. Instead he obstinatly marches on, seeming without shame or remorse. In short, "The Emperor's New Clothes" is not Demi's best or most original work, but it is an attractive new version of a favorite story.