The Emperors New Clothes: An All-Star Illustrated Retelling of the Classic Fairy Tale

Rating:
Summary: Reviews response-This is a fun book! Not a teaching book!
Review: As a Reading Recovery and Title I reading teacher I am thrilled when a book comes out that gives children an opportunity to enjoy literature in such a unique and non-threatening manner. I work with children everyday that see reading as a chore and never pick up books on their own. This book, and hopefully more like it, allow a child to listen to a story with (quite a bit!) detail and descriptive language. It is fairly long but can be listened to while playing,etc. This book, I believe, was not intended for reading aloud or teaching reading and a great deal of the content is way over a young child's head - as is a good Bugs Bunny cartoon! That's what makes this book so wonderful for children of all ages! The content and language will grow with them and they will pick up something new everytime they listen. Do not buy this book as a follow along or to teach children to read. Buy it for fun!

Rating:
Summary: A great boy's book!
Review: I enjoyed this book and the accompanying CD very much. It is appropriate for the 8-12 year old set as well as for adults. My only problem was that the moral of the story was misconstrued. The moral of this story is that we should have the courage to challenge the status quo. While the moral of the original is to point out the outrageously foolish lengths that people will go in support of leaders (Royalty or Presidents). Irreverence and attacks on the status quo were interesting when they were unusual. The generation of Hollywood stars who so amusingly narrate this story appear cut of the same 1960's cloth and use this format to promote their ideas of the proper role of the individual in society. All In all this is a good book/CD package and I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A great boy's book!
Review: I have three boys 10,7,and 6. They absolutely loved this book, especially my 7 year old! He must have listened to it 50 times in 2 weeks. We read a lot of books and I have never heard him laugh out loud like he did for this book. He has talked about it ever since he first read it. This version adds humor and wit to an old classic without ruining the story line. The story is told from the perspective of the people and objects involved in it. This is a fabulous way to tell the story! The wonderful artwork and change of voices on each page holds the attention of younger children all the way through this rather long book. The kids enjoyed looking at the pictures and retelling the story themselves without listening to the CD as well. The only problem we had with this was the fact that the CD couldn't jump to the page we left off on. We always had to start the story over. The kids never seemed to mind it - just me!

Rating:
Summary: The best and most fun book I have ever read to my sons.
Review: The book itself is beautiful and the CD is wonderful and easy to follow. Its a great way to entertain a child or children and get tham interested in reading. My daughter never liked the story until now. She almost has it memorized and is beginning to recognize words. My one criticism and caution to other parents is the Fran Drescher character because of the use of an inappropriate term considering the audience this was meant to address. I was shocked to hear it and surprised that it was not edited out. Children hear enough bad language elsewhere, there was no need to tarnish such a wonderful product in this manner. I hope that the Starbright Foundation and Steven Spielberg will gift us with many more such books.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and entertaining for kids four and above.
Review: The book itself is beautiful and the CD is wonderful and easy to follow. Its a great way to entertain a child or children and get tham interested in reading. My daughter never liked the story until now. She almost has it memorized and is beginning to recognize words. My one criticism and caution to other parents is the Fran Drescher character because of the use of an inappropriate term considering the audience this was meant to address. I was shocked to hear it and surprised that it was not edited out. Children hear enough bad language elsewhere, there was no need to tarnish such a wonderful product in this manner. I hope that the Starbright Foundation and Steven Spielberg will gift us with many more such books.

Rating:
Summary: Star-Spangled Spectacular
Review: This book is wonderful!!! I purchased this a little while ago and I love to listen to it. It has Beautiful illustrations by Steven Kellop, Tomie dePaola, and Graeme Base. Plus, if you get the CD with it, you get to hear Stars like Robin Williams (Jester), Johnathan Taylor Thomas (Prince), Melissa Joan Hart (Princess) and the Narrator, Jay Leno, read their own words. Speilberg did a great job giving actors parts that match their personalities like Fran Dresher as the Heralding Horn, Angela Lansbury as the Spinning Wheel, and Madona as the Empress. This is a great rewriting of a traditional story. The one thing that I didn't like was that the CD isn't broken up into sections so you can't just skip ahead to your favorite actors part. But that doesn't really matter because the whole thing is great.

Rating:
Summary: Star-Spangled Spectacular
Review: This book is wonderful!!! I purchased this a little while ago and I love to listen to it. It has Beautiful illustrations by Steven Kellop, Tomie dePaola, and Graeme Base. Plus, if you get the CD with it, you get to hear Stars like Robin Williams (Jester), Johnathan Taylor Thomas (Prince), Melissa Joan Hart (Princess) and the Narrator, Jay Leno, read their own words. Speilberg did a great job giving actors parts that match their personalities like Fran Dresher as the Heralding Horn, Angela Lansbury as the Spinning Wheel, and Madona as the Empress. This is a great rewriting of a traditional story. The one thing that I didn't like was that the CD isn't broken up into sections so you can't just skip ahead to your favorite actors part. But that doesn't really matter because the whole thing is great.

Rating:
Summary: A lot of FUN!
Review: This is a wonderful re-telling of the classic story! It is told from various points-of-view. The stars that were picked for each role are perfect choices! The book itself is great, and you can really picture each star performing the role -- but the CD is a must! To hear each star, and the ad-libbing that they do, makes the story so much more fun! Probably more fun for adults than children! We loved it!