The Chinese Emperor's New Clothes

Starred review from October 23, 2017
Compestine (Secrets of the Terra-Cotta Soldier) offers her retelling as a corrective to Hans Christian Andersen’s account. “The truth is that the story took place here in China, and without any tricky tailors,” she writes, promising to reveal the “real story.” In this version, the child emperor’s ministers take advantage of Ming Da’s youth to plunder the treasury, which he wants to use to feed the poor. The plan to make modest clothing belongs to the young emperor: he enlists the help of his tailors to dress him in rice sacks. “Honest people will see their true splendor,” he explains to the ministers, whose vanity, of course, gets the better of them. Roberts (The Prince and the Porker) has marvelous fun with the details of the Chinese court, rendering the robes, hats, and architectural flourishes of the palace with wit and style. The hero of the original tale was a child, too—but in this version he’s the author of the plan and the focus of the action, and the story is the better for it. Ages 6–9.

November 1, 2017

K-Gr 3-The emperor in Compestine's version of this well-known tale is a child who's been stymied in his intentions to do right by his subjects because the adult ministers who surround him are corrupt. The emperor enlists the cooperation of the court tailors in revealing the ministers' perfidy, dressing them in burlap to parade the streets for Chinese New Year. The ministers must pretend to believe they are clothed in opulent silks to hide their dishonesty and, as in Andersen's original story; the truth is made known by a little boy watching the parade. Compestine's prose is adequate for her purposes wherein responsible leadership and honesty receive their due recognition, but it is Roberts's watercolor, pen-and-ink illustrations that lift the book above the commonplace. He often incorporates Chinese latticework screens to frame the action and uses Chinese textile motifs, headdresses, and hair styles to ground the drawings in the culture. A mouse and a cricket make frequent appearances to delight observant readers and listeners. The dragon dancers parade through a multicultural crowd in an interesting variety of costumes (presumably their new best clothes for the holiday celebration). Each of Roberts's images adds pleasure to a tale that might otherwise have seemed overly preachy. VERDICT A variant of an oft-told classic that is suitable for classroom and individual reading.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2017
Remember the story of the vain emperor and the cunning tailors? It wasn't quite like that.... Ming Da, upon becoming ruler of China at the age of 9, discovers that his ministers are stealing the country's food and riches. Without resources to serve his people and run his kingdom, how can the boy emperor outwit his treacherous ministers and avoid rebellion? Enlisting the help of his loyal tailors, he just might be able to recover some of the stolen riches and shame his trio of terrible ministers. A cheeky narrator who asserts that this is the "real story" of the emperor's new clothes is given context in Compestine's rich author's note. It describes how this particular telling of Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale emerged from the oppressive, literature-scarce world of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Roberts' watercolor, pen, and ink illustrations--which will be familiar to readers of Andrea Beaty's picture books Ada Twist, Scientist (2016) and Rosie Revere, Engineer (2013)--add humor and nuance. They render the story's villains with just the right balance of gravitas and hilarity, and a sumptuous double-page spread perfectly captures the caper's climax. Just one quibble: a small mouse and cricket appear inconsistently on pages throughout the book, enticing but then thwarting would-be seekers. A clever retelling buttressed by a fascinating back story and vivid art. (activity instructions) (Picture book. 5-10)

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Starred review from November 15, 2017
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Eschewing the old folktale about a vain emperor, Compestine claims the real story took place in China. Ming Da was only nine years old when he became the emperor of China. His corrupt ministers stole silks, rice, gold, and precious stones, leaving Ming Da without money to run his kingdom. So the clever ruler enlists the help of his trusted tailors to outwit the thieving ministers. He announces he is preparing splendid, magical clothes for them (but they are really burlap sacks). As they try on the plain clothes, the tailors convince each fool to return their stolen jewels, gold, and silks to outshine the others. At the New Year's Day parade, the foolish ministers proudly swagger, showing off their new robes. A wordless double-page spread shows the massed crowd sneering and laughing: They're wearing rice sacks . . . Itchy sacks! Itchy sacks! In a satisfying conclusion, the foolish rascals are replaced by honest counselors, and the people are happy, well-fed, and very well dressed. Back matter explains the author's interest in folktales and Chinese traditions. There are also guidelines for making a Chinese New Year's parade robe. The somewhat whimsical illustrations of the distinctive individuals, palace, interiors, and clothes are made in watercolor, pen, and ink, and highlight Roberts' feel for fashion, design, and color.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
The humorously detailed watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations almost upstage this engaging reimagining of Andersen's tale, inspired by the author's reading of the story as a book-starved child during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. A young emperor concocts a plan involving ridiculous rice-sack clothing to fool his vain, greedy ministers and reclaim some of their ill-gotten gains for his people. Appended with an author's note and craft instructions.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)