4.5 stars Graphic Novels Childs/Middle School
Almost perfect. Had it not been for the faces on the characters, I would have loved this book. I’ve been looking for a copy of this story which stays true to the original version without being too wordy or too childish and I think I might have found it. I found this graphic novel invigorating and entertaining, as it tells the fairy tale of the self-centered emperor.
In the faraway kingdom, there lived an emperor who cared more about the clothes that he wore than his own kingdom. He could and he would, change his clothes hourly and in fact, he never wore the same clothes twice. In fact, instead of inspecting his kingdom, the emperor liked to show off his clothes to his kingdom and would have his servant drive him through his kingdom so others could see him. While out one day, the emperor spotted some fantastic cloth that he had to have.
The weavers spun a tale so outlandish to the emperor, about a cloth that they could weave for him. This cloth would be so amazing that he absolutely had to have them come live with him in his castle, so they could create it for him. For this cloth was so magical, “only clever people can see it! To fools, it is invisible!” This was exactly the plan the weavers had in mind, for they were swindlers.
The emperor is smitten with pleasure as the weaver’s work. The weavers can’t believe their good fortune as they’re living their best life inside the castle watching their scheme unfold. The conversations taking place inside the castle made me laugh as both the emperor and the weavers are both pleased with the situation unfolding. The servant is running around trying to please everyone and he’s caught in the middle. The emperor’s new clothes are finally finished, but who can see it? The emperor’s apprehension grows, will he be able to see it? He loves to parade around his kingdom, but will that be a huge mistake this time?
I thought this would be a good read for my grandkids as I think it will keep their attention as the story moves quickly and the illustrations are interesting. I really enjoyed the color scheme of this graphic novel as it wasn’t bright and colorful but rather a dull and washed-out color palette which was perfect. The captions within some of the frames helped move the story along and were short in nature and easy to read. The speech and thought bubbles were easy to follow and read too. There are not a lot of characters to keep track of and their images made them easy to keep them distinct. As I said before, I was not a fan of the faces of the characters. They look clownish to me, and I didn’t like not seeing very many facial expressions in this story. 4.5 stars
One Chapter 