The Emperor's New Clothes

The Emperor’s New Clothes. With this leveled title as well as The Jungle Book, The Princess and The Pea, and a version of The Ugly Duckling well suited to the Nickelodeon crowd, Stone Arch has added new energy and artistry to the business of adapting classics for young readers (although at fewer than 30 story pages, it’s a stretch to call them graphic “novels”). The backmatter includes discussion questions and writing prompts. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/540000654/post/220052222.html * Good Comics for Kids Blog, School Library Journal *
In this comic-book retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale, the emperor cares more about his clothes than anything else, spending money on new suits rather than on his kingdom, until a couple of swindlers take advantage of his obsession and claim to be able to make a suit out of magical cloth. Artist Timmins uses a muted color palette and clown-style makeup on all the red-nosed characters to emphasize the humor. This book in the Graphic Spin series includes a brief glossary and a short biography of Andersen as well as discussion questions and writing prompts. * Booklist *
Publishers learned a long time ago that they can make a quick buck off cheaply made retellings of classic (i.e.: out-of-copyright) fairy tales. As a result, librarians are automatically wary of a publisher who releases a spate of new fairy tale adaptations. Well, you don’t have to be wary of these books. Stone Arch has put its best foot forward with this new line of graphic novel adaptations of fairy tales, books that succeed on every front. The ones I’ve listed above are my particular favorites, but I haven’t seen a bad book in this new line. Cenicienta, a Spanish-language retelling of the familiar Cinderella story, is a fine example. The book is bound in a sturdy yet attractive library edition, and the high-quality paper makes the painted colors leap off the page, as for example in a panel featuring the brilliant glow from within a magical coach headed toward a certain legendary ball. The translations are also strong, with natural word choice and dialogue that pays attention to the nuances of class as the poor and the wealthy speak to one another. With these stylish new fairy tale adaptations, Stone Arch has reset the standard * Teacher Librarian Magazine *
This is a 3-in-1 review for the books: The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Ugly Duckling The Ugly Duckling Summary: In a faraway land, perched upon her little nest, Mother Duck waits for her last remaining egg to hatch. When the odd little egg finally breaks open, Mother Duck is shocked to see an ugly duckling staring up at her. Despite its homeliness, Mother Duck adores her awkward child and does her best to protect him. Unfortunately, no one else on the farm wants anything to do with the Ugly Duckling, and he is driven from the farm to fend for himself. Survival, however, takes more than good looks, and the plucky little duck plods bravely into the wilderness. Review: If you look past the rather...terrifying outside of the 'duckling' the book itself is hilarious fun. The 'duckling' doesn't lose his sense of humor, and even manages to come out into good circumstances a few times. Unfortunately he had to endure a lot of hardship in order to realize his full potential. The re-telling of the story by Powell is both simple to understand, true to the source material and witty. The 'ducklings' siblings made smart aleck comments and the toad was just kind of 'yeah I knew it'. The Emperor's New Clothes Summary: In a faraway kingdom, there lives an Emperor who prizes fancy clothes above all else. He buys suit after suit made of the most expensive materials instead of tending to his threadbare kingdom. Then, one day, two traveling merchants offer to make the Emperor a special suit that has magical powers. The merchants, however, are not who they claim to be, and the suit has one major flaw -- no one can see it! Review: This fairy tale has always cracked me up. Its like high school except at least the guy on top realizes it and changes himself. The artwork here is very different from Duckling, its less cartoon-ish and softer, using what I think are watercolors (I was never very good at art). The Emperor's outfits are truly outlandish and you can see that what he isn't wearing currently is even worse. Peters does a good job fleshing out the story a little--offering a comparison montage of the Emperor vs. other sovereigns in the area as well as some sideline comments from the merchants. And in the end everyone gets exactly what they deserve. The Princess and the Pea Summary: As a young prince nears adulthood, the Queen tells him he must find a princess bride -- but not just any princess will do. Only a true princess will satisfy his mother. The young prince searches the entire kingdom, but returns home alone and sad. Late one stormy night, a mysterious woman knocks at the castle door. She claims to be a true princess, but the Queen has her doubts. So, she concocts a clever scheme to see if the princess is the real thing. Review: Hands down this was my favorite re-telling of all three. This is the same author as Emperor's New Clothes actually, but different illustrator. I think I liked the illustrations for this--Lamoreaux has a very expressive style. I especially liked how the Prince's eyes would bug whenever one of the 'princesses' would do something just a little bit...eccentric. It was an impressive display of stereotypes I have to say! The Queen was kind of funny actually, the look on her face when the Princess arrived and then later when the Princess passed her silly test was highly amusing. And there was of course the happy ending...until the mouse came along. Overall review: These books are a great way to introduce younger (by younger the suggested grade level is 1-3) children to alternative ways of reading. In the back of each book there was a blurb about the original creator, Hans Christian Andersen as well as paragraphs about the 're-tellers'. There was also a glossary for each--some of the words weren't words you'd ordinarily hear in a first to third grade classroom--and some discussion questions and writing prompts to get the reader thinking and creating. These are set * Poisoned Rationality Blog *
These two level one readers by Stone Arch are told in graphic novel format, putting a twist on the classic fairy tales. In both cases, the illustrations are nontraditional enough to appeal to older readers. Gloassaries follow, as do discussion questions and writing prompts. * Mt. Diablo Unified School District *
What is not to love about the story called The Emperor’s New Clothes? Doing this story in a graphic novel adds great illustrations. Graphic format is a favorite of mine! It makes it perfect for students who are reluctant readers and never seem to finish a book on their own. Young readers who want to read anything they can get their hands on will also enjoy the graphics and fast-paced text. The full-color graphics make an enormous impact on the story. Vocabulary has been well selected in the retelling of this story. The Emperor has an insatiable desire to own as many clothes as he can. He gets them from far and wide. One day, when the Emperor was traveling through town, he came across some beautiful cloth and asked the two men selling it if they had woven the material. They said yes, but they were actually thieves. They were able to take much of the emperor’s money and made him a beautiful suit. The problem was that there really was not a suit and the emperor was actually in his underwear. Everyone was afraid to tell him that he had been tricked. This is a delightful story that teaches a lesson about greed and pride, and will be enjoyed by both boys and girls. At the end of the book the author includes a glossary, a mini autobiography, information about the author who retold the story, and the illustrator. The last two pages have discussion questions and writing prompts. I highly recommend this book. 2009 * Children's Literature Comprehensive Database *