The Emperor and the Nightingale

Author: Meilo So
Illustrated by: Meilo So
Picture Book: 32 page(s)
Age Range: 4 - 8

Book Description:

This version of Hans Christian Andersen tales, originally an oriental folktale re-told, is set in mid-19th century China. The text's illustrations present authentic details, from Manchu headdresses to the rose-madder walls of the Forbidden City.

School Library Journal
Andersen's story has here been picked to its bare bones, textually. The Emperor falls ill, but Death and the faces in the bed curtains do not put in an appearance, nor do the courtiers and servants desert their sovereign. The resultant streamlining is, however, quite effective. This tauter version lends immediacy to the well-known tale and reads aloud well. A veritable flock of nightingales has come on the scene in recent years, none equaling the spirit and style of Nancy Ekholm Burkert's pictures for Eve Le Gallienne's translation (HarperCollins, 1965). So's version provides a dashing new rival. Burkert's much admired pictures were largely cribbed from classical Chinese painting; So's are brilliantly original but no less authentic. Stylistically, her watercolor and ink pictures stand somewhere between Ludwig Bemelmans and Qi Bai-shi, the Chinese Picasso. The swashbuckling use of color takes one's breath away and ingeniously offsets the black-and-white mechanical bird, lending it an anemic coldness that adds immeasurably to its function in the story. So has set the illustrations in mid-19th century China, i.e., contemporaneous with Andersen himself. This happy and authentic choice has allowed her to splash down the splendor and decadence of the Qing Court in minute detail from Manchu headdresses to spittoons to the rose madder walls of the Forbidden City. Interesting perspectives are another plus. The artwork in its kaleidoscopic reworking of cultural detail and inspired use of color is nothing short of genius.

Booklist
Lavish, intricate illustrations are the strong point of this retelling of the beloved tale. The story retains the bones of Andersen's original, although some details have been omitted (for example, the poignant deathbed scene when the emperor begs for music from the mechanical bird before the real nightingale appears). But the narrative is rich with descriptive words that match the opulent textures and details in the paintings, which will probably work best at close range rather than for story hours. Children will be entranced by Birkbeck's images of the magnificent, endless garden; the deep, mysterious forest; and a crosssection of the glowing, porcelain palace. A lovely offering.