THE TOPSY-TURVY EMPEROR OF CHINA
by Isaac Bashevis Singer & translated by Isaac Bashevis Singer & Elizabeth Shub & illustrated by Julian Jusim
A dark tale of the eternal "struggle between good and evil, beauty and ugliness," from a master, given pristine treatment in the illustrations that appear in this edition. A cruel Chinese emperor casts everything in his kingdom in his own deformed spirit, and the result is The Court of Injustice (where robbers go free, for a price), a Secretary of False Promises, stuffed arsenals, punk hairdos, police corruption, and godless temples. But tyranny will always have its opponents, and so the crown prince, who grows up with an intuitive sense of truth and justice, joins the revolutionaries to bring an end to his father's reign. There is a heroic dimension to this tale and some savage buffoonery, but nothing unruly finds its way into the meticulous, paneled Asian art, which remains coolly distant and stylized. (Picture book. 7-9)