The Chinese Emperor's New Clothes

The Chinese Emperor’s New Clothes
By Ying Chang Compestine
Illustrated by David Roberts
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2017. Picture Book.

This is a fractured fairytale of the classic “Emperor’s New Clothes.” When Ming Da became the Emperor at a young age (9!) he had a lot of advisors. They didn’t really care about China, instead they wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Emperor didn’t know how to run the country and they could do what they wanted. That meant they stole silks, rice, gold, and precious stones from the Emperor. It also meant that the people were poor and hungry. In order to oust the dishonest advisors, the Emperor hatched a plan with the help of his two tailors to trick the evil advisors. And thus the fractured fairytale explains why it was that the Emperor wore such silly rice sacks for a grand parade. This twist on the classic tale is clever. Readers will enjoy how the Emperor tricks the dishonest advisors in order to save his people and his empire.

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