The Emperor's New Clothes

Abstract

The back cover advertises this and the other books of this series as award-winning motivational character-building picture books. The overall series, Sommer-Time Story Series, has won over forty national awards. The front cover promises fun but mentions also fairness, citizenship, and honesty. This version of the story paints a picture of a vain and self-centered emperor. Max and Rex come proclaiming that their clothes are invisible to anyone who is unfit for office. These garments can be used as a test to discover who is fit for serving the emperor (10). The emperor even thinks that when he is wearing the clothes, he will discover who is unfit to serve him. A nice touch has Max and Rex praising the lightness of the new clothes: Wearing them will make anyone feel as if he is wearing nothing (23). What little Frederick says here is Your Majesty, I see you in your underwear (27). For that honesty, he gets trained as a future prime minister, and his family comes to live in the palace. The emperor has something of a conversion. From now on he wants people to tell him the truth, even when it is painful. The face of this emperor is excellent, starting right from the cover! The best of the pictures shows the emperor's joy over his new clothes as he stands in his underwear on 24. This particular series, Sommer-Time Story Classics, contains some twelve fable books. This library edition has a cloth reinforced binding and is very sturdy. There are also video and read-along versions of these books with sound effects, and there are free online helps too.