The Emperor's New Clothes: A Tale Set in China
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Abstract
This third printing is a better copy, though without a dust-jacket, of the book of the same year that we have in a first printing. In fact, I went out and looked for a better copy once I saw the condition of our first printing. As I wrote there, there are some differences from the traditional in Demi's telling of this tale. The first is that the tale is set in China. The two strangers, male and female, promised clothes no one else has ever had. Only clever people could see them. And so the emperor wanted to see who was clever and who a fool. The weavers asked not to be interrupted in their work. An unusual quality of the book lies in several fold-out pages. Alas! It turns out that these pages are the first to suffer folds and creases. "The Emperor decided to walk among his people and be admired." The people, like the court officials, exclaimed over the beauty of the clothes that they could not see. When the child called out, the emperor "knew who the fools were in his province. But he held his head high and continued to walk among his people." And that is the ending! Demi's work is always visually engaging. Perhaps the best illustration of all here is of the emperor's astonishment as he could not see the clothes.
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Publisher
Margaret K. McElderry Books: Simon and Schuster