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

Demi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689830688 ISBN 13: 9780689830686

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2000

Synopsis

Long ago in a province in China there lived an emperor whose greatest pleasure in life was to dress in new clothes.
So begins Demi's retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a proud emperor who does not see what is obvious until he hears the truth from a child.
Based upon several different translations of the original Danish story, Demi's tale is set in old provincial China. Filled with exquisite details, bright panoramas, and golden hues that leap off a wealth of fold-out pages, this story lures readers into a magical place and time. The story follows the four seasons of the year and is packed with visual elements of Chinese culture for readers to pore over for hours.
Demi has captured in text and paintings all the majesty of China and all the magic that makes for the very best fairy tales. This elegant edition of a favorite story is sure to be cherished by all.

About this title

About the Author

Demi is the award-winning creator of numerous books for children, including The Empty Pot; Buddha; The Dalai Lama; The Legend of Saint Nicholas; Gandhi, which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and received an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award; and Muhammad, which was named a Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice selection, a Booklist Editors’ Choice selection, one of the Booklist Top Ten Religion Books for Youth, and a Book Links “Lasting Connections” selection, and was cited in a Publishers Weekly starred review as a “timely, exceptionally handsome biography [that] serves as an excellent introduction to Islam.” Demi lives in Carnation, Washington.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Although Andersen's name does not appear in this book, it is a simple retelling of his classic tale. Demi's double-page illustrations are graceful and well designed and are executed in vivid colors, including gold. The pictures are filled with frolicsome children, animals, and birds; the backgrounds depict activities that symbolically relate to heaven, purity, and virtue such as weaving silk, the dragon dance, and kite flying. Several delicate gatefolds add little to the visual flow of the story, though toward the end of the tale, a pair of double fold-out pages of the emperor walking through the province in his amusing dragon-decorated boxers does provide a lovely four-page spread. Naomi Lewis's recent picture-book retelling (Candlewick, 1997), with illustrations by Angela Barrett, is more successful at conveying the irony and wit of the tale. Still, this is an elegant, colorful version of the old story.
Marilyn Iarusso, New York Public Library
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Set in old China, Demi's (The Nightingale) adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen classic is as opulent as the vain emperor himself might wish for, with lots of gold ink and five foldout panels. The lean text supports the art but does not compete with it, leaving readers free to lose themselves in Demi's beguiling panoramas. As the artist explains in an endnote, her paintings incorporate traditional Chinese symbols, particularly those of purity and virtue. Readers will want to go back and scrutinize the details so harmoniously worked into each painting, from the elaborate patterns on the characters' clothing to background scenes of the springtime weaving of silk and the summertime flying of kites. The foldouts, however, are a disappointmentAmost of them interrupt rather than extend Demi's compositions. The exception is a climactic double gatefold spread chronicling the scowling emperor, dressed only in a gold undershirt and red undershorts adorned with the image of a dragon, as he stubbornly marches through the countryside in his new "garments." The more closely kids look, the more they will find. Ages 7-10. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Demi sets her brief version of the Hans Christian Andersen chestnut in provincial Old China, suspending stout officials, gracefully gesturing onlookers, livestock, wild animals, and drifts of flowers, all drawn in ultra-fine detail, against backgrounds that seem limitlessly deep. The costumes are gorgeous, all vivid red, blue, and gold—even the Imperial undershorts, decorated with a sinuous dragon, are magnificent (children hoping for a naked emperor will be disappointed; steer them toward Anne Rockwell’s rendition of the tale). Though neither the verbal nor visual narrative is much enhanced by most of the five foldouts, they do make the book all the more grandly sumptuous. Demi scatters traditional Chinese symbols of purity, keyed in an afterword, throughout, and if the Emperor is left looking more annoyed than chastened by that pesky child’s eye-opening observation, it will still be plain to all readers that he understands who in his province is the biggest fool. (Picture book. 7-10) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689830688
• ISBN 13: 9780689830686
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Demi
• Number of pages: 42