Emperor and the Nightingale
Written by Rosie Dickens
Illustrated by Graham Philpot
Reviewed by Annabel S. (age 10)
One day in China the emperor of China was looking at his huge garden, feeling so proud of it. The garden was so huge the emperor had not even seen all of it. In the garden, there lived a little bird and the bird was a nightingale. Basically everyone saw the nightingale, and the nightingale was known for its beautiful voice. Then one day the emperor was reading a book about his palace and garden and then he turned the page and saw a picture of a bird that lived in his garden. He was confused because he had never seen the bird before. He was very interested in hearing the bird’s voice because the book said that the bird had a beautiful voice. So then he ordered his servants to get the bird, but the servants had never seen the nightingale before. So the servants looked and looked, but then finally they had to ask the gardener. Once they found the nightingale they put it in a golden cage. The emperor loved the bird’s voice so he told the emperor of Japan to hear the bird’s voice. He invited him to hear the bird’s voice and the emperor of Japan loved it. A couple of weeks later the emperor of Japan sent him a wind-up nightingale. It was golden and covered with jewels but then when no one was watching the real nightingale flew away. A couple of hours later the wind-up nightingale broke. Everyone tried to fix it but no one succeeded. Then one day the emperor got sick (very sick) and he missed the real nightingale. So he planted a tree and...well, you will just have to read the book to find out.
I think this book is great. Its illustrations have a lot of detail. The book is very calm and great for kids. This book did a very good job of making the story into a short kids’ book. My favorite part is when they were looking for the nightingale and they looked at a cow and thought it was the nightingale. I think you have to be careful with this book to not spoil the surprises for other people.
I think this version of the story is great for all ages. I think people should read this book because it is great for any time and you always want to read more of it. I think the ending might interest people the most.