The Emperor's New Clothes

March 22, 2004
Virginia Lee Burton (best known for her Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel) reimagines Hans Christian Andersen's ageless story of over-the-top vanity in The Emperor's New Clothes. Burton's 1949 illustrations, re-photographed for this reissue, highlight the artist's vivid watercolor palette within detailed, sharply defined ink drawings. The ornately costumed, stiffly posed figures and swirling curlicues around the text set up a formal yet deliciously wry tone.

September 28, 1998
For this star-studded, collaborative interpretation of the egocentric emperor's sober unveiling, the cast of characters expands to include the perspectives of an imperial physician (as told by Dr. Ruth Westheimer) and a court jester (who else but Robin Williams)--even the emperor's trunks talk (animated by the voice of Calvin Klein: "nothing comes between me and my Emperor!"). Steven Spielberg, who makes an appearance in the text playing "the honest boy" who blows the whistle on the emperor's birthday suit, also pens the book's introduction. Each character's concise monologue (recorded by the reteller on an enclosed CD) is paired with a portrait, offering the venerable artists here latitude for satiric humor: Sendak's evil prime minister plots the emperor's undoing in the bathtub with repeated images of the crowned man's bare behind on the wallpaper; garbed in white silk bow tie, ruffled cuffs and primped tresses, C.F. Payne's imperial dresser could have prepped the founding fathers; and Daniel Adel's painting of Madonna as Marie Antoinette is a showstopper. As in all such compendiums, some offerings are weaker than others (Do readers really need to hear from the spinning wheel?), and they might all come off as so many disparate vignettes if not for Blake's addled moth providing the comic visual through-line, transporting readers from one end of the empire to the other. The best jokes can be gleaned from a quick perusal, but the book will likely grace the coffee tables of those who care about the celebrity scene. First printing 200,000; $500,000 ad/promo. (Oct.) FYI: All proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Starbright Foundation, which gives assistance to seriously ill children.

June 26, 1987
Colorful pictures portray the classic story. Ages 4-8.

September 2, 1991
Taking full advantage of the intrinsic humor of Andersen's tale, Byrd has created busy, exuberant pictures featuring a menagerie of animals. The wonderfully foppish emperor is a stately lion, who wears a gold earring and sports costumes of dazzling colors and intricate patterns--until his final moment of vainglory, of course, when he parades through the town in his newly ``woven'' clothes. The scoundrel weavers are aptly depicted as ultimately sly foxes, also splendidly bedecked. The illustrator's crowning touch is the collection of amazed expressions on the faces of the townsfolk--animals all--lining the streets and hanging out of windows to gape at the emperor as he struts by ``with head held high proudly.'' Levinson ( Watch the Stars Come Out ; I Go with My Family to Grandma's ) retells this classic story with fitting understatement, her dialogue and descriptions imbued with grace. Ages 4-7.

March 31, 1997
Duntze embroiders the classic story with exquisite visual details; her lanky, angular people with a jaundiced glow add a playfully sinister note. Ages 5-8.

Starred review from September 1, 1997
Dogs--curious and well groomed, playful and preening--are the vain emperor's most important fashion accessory in this witty new edition of Andersen's tale. Barrett, who also illustrated Lewis's translation of The Snow Queen, shows her canine subjects delighting in the antics of their clothes-conscious master, who has "a different coat for every hour of the day." They peer at themselves in mirrors and sniff the royal shoes as their owner gazes happily into his voluminous closets. Lewis's text is lively, as when the emperor's subjects are asked if they like his robe: " `Yes, indeed,' said all the courtiers. But since there was nothing there to see, nothing was all they saw." Barrett's visuals play on the tension between what's seen and unseen. In one scene, only the emperor's feet peek out from beneath a full-length mirror as the phonies look on with feigned approval. The artist resets the tale in 1913, which, as Lewis's foreword explains, is "the final prewar year of the little kingdoms that once made up Europe." Her illustrations make clever use of picture frames, windows, and doors to compose charming tableaux. In the borders, the emperor's Gable-like image is replicated on paper dolls, stamps, postcards and coins. The emperor's pursuit of fashion becomes such frivolous fun that he is quite a likable fool--especially when his tan lines are showing. Ages 6-9.

October 30, 2000
In a starred review, PW called this a "witty new edition, set in 1913. The emperor's pursuit of fashion becomes such frivolous fun that he is quite a likable fool especially when his tan lines are showing." Ages 6-9.

September 1, 2004
John Alfred Rowe (Monkey Trouble) takes his accomplished paintbrush to Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes. The rosy cheeked, rotund potentate is attended to by an elite troupe of mime-ish monkeys, their noses as high as their yellow bowties; the hucksters are depicted as roguish foxes with a pirate-like patch and swagger. .

August 31, 1992
This fresh rendering of Andersen's oft-told tale wittily underlines the ``unforgivably silly'' nature of the duped emperor and his fawning court. Mendelson's ( Stupid Emilien ) spare text twinkles with a mischievous irony (``Once upon a time there was an emperor who was much loved. Mostly by himself''), echoed in the humorously resplendent artwork: the emperor, a gorilla, consults with a council of chameleons; weasel spies in dark glasses are everywhere; and veiled harem seals shimmy sweetly. Luxuriously swathed, the emperor awaits delivery of a ``rich and rare'' new ensemble from his tailor, a rat famous for fashions that ``can only be seen by those of highest distinction.'' When the emperor parades forth clad in nothing but a girdle ``there arose only a shocked silence''--until a child blurts out the obvious truth. Mendelson's telling is both fun and hard-hitting, and while some of his sophisticated satire may go unnoticed by young readers, they will warm to his animal characters, his bountiful palette and the ornate opulence of his artwork. The final scenes of the near naked gorilla are a delight. Ages 6-up.