EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, THE

When Andersen's vain emperor and his court are decked out in the fashions of 16th-century France, including the monarch in his underwear, the result is a particularly uproarious version of this well-loved classic. In her cartoonlike watercolors, Tharlet uses light, bright pastel tones for the clothing of everyone except the charlatan tailors, who are clad in sober brown and gray. Among the many small pictorial additions that extend the text's humor are the emperor's teddy bear, lying beside him as his breakfast-in-bed arrives, and a little dog with fleas that appears on several pages. The story is retold in simple, straightforward sentences. This fresh, delightful interpretation would be a good choice for reading alone or aloud.