The text of the book is simple and concise. It follows the opera's libretto closely, with all the major characters and story beats included. There are only two real departures. First of all, in Tamino and Papageno's first trial, the women who try to tempt them to speak are random "maidservants" (the illustration shows five of them) rather than the Three Ladies. Thus the episode becomes a part of the test rather than a real attempt to lead the two young men astray. Secondly, and unsurprisingly, both Pamina and Papageno's suicide attempts are cut, with the text only saying that Pamina "ran away crying" after Tamino refused to speak to her and that Papageno "was very upset" when Papagena vanished. The priests' anti-woman statements are also excised. Every now and then, the first few lines of a famous aria or duet are directly quoted in italics, with a musical note at the beginning to indicate that these words are being sung, not spoken. Sometimes the words "He/she sang:" precede them to reinforce the point.
I'll admit that now and then, the characters' dialogue feels too modernized and "childrened down." For example, when Tamino first sees Pamina's portrait, he exclaims "She's so beautiful it drives me crazy!" Once or twice the text also contradicts the illustrations: it describes Papageno as wearing "rainbow feathers," for example, when in the pictures his costume is just green and white. But these small problems might just be a result of the book having been translated into English from Korean. For all I know, the original Korean text is more poetic and more consistent with the pictures.
But what really makes this storybook stand out are Edmée Cannard's elegantly beautiful and unique illustrations, which depict a colorful, stylized world that shows the influence of Picasso and Chagall. The Queen of the Night's realm is a dusky land with mostly barren trees and leaves strewn on the ground. Its only bright color is Papageno's bright green and white, pseudo-18th century costume, with feathered knickers and a birds' beak mask strapped over his nose. Sarastro's realm, by contrast, is suffused in golden sunlight, with magnificent golden buildings, palm trees, exotic animals, and gardens of red and purple flowers as tall as small trees. Tamino's bronze-gold coat and hat align him from the start with the color scheme of Sarastro's realm, not the Queen's, as does Pamina's pink and gold costume. The Queen's villainy is broadcast at first sight, as her severe face and midnight blue costume make her look distinctly like a witch, complete with a classic pointed hat, which the Three Ladies also wear. (I'll admit I don't care for just how witch-like she's made to look, nor for the fact that the "Hölle Rache" scene has no illustration of her, instead only showing her shadow looming over Pamina.) Monostatos's purple robe and tall hat align him with the Queen's realm even as he works for Sarastro. The trials take place in realms of rich, deep colors (green, purple and gray), but when hope appears, golden light reappears too. The bold illustration of the climactic fire and water trials place Tamino and Pamina in the center of a red background, flanked by towering flames on one side and a column of water swimming with fish on the other. Warm, love-evoking red likewise suffuses the final scene, where Tamino and Pamina stand in their white and gold wedding garb, while Papageno and Papagena kiss in the background. Cannard also reminds us that this is an opera with framing illustrations showing the opera house's red curtain: the Queen peers out from behind it at the beginning, while Pamina gathers flowers from the stage floor beside it in the end.
Like Kyra Teis's storybook adaptation that I reviewed some time ago, this version also portrays the cast of characters as ethnically diverse. Monostatos is depicted as black (although the text never mentions his race, and he's described as the captain of Sarastro's guards, not as a slave), but so is Papagena, whose light pink feathered dress looks especially beautiful against her dark skin. Tamino and Papageno are white, but Pamina and the Queen of the Night are East Asian, with Pamina dressed in a kimono. Sarastro and most of his priests have a Middle Eastern look, with tan skin, curled shoes and turbans, and with Middle Eastern architecture dominating their realm. The Three Boys are a multiethnic trio, one white, one black, and one East Asian. The assorted background characters have a variety of different skin colors too.
At the beginning, the book presents the main cast of characters with small illustrations and short descriptions to ensure that child readers remember who is who. At the end is a short biography of Mozart, a short summary of The Magic Flute's history, and a guide to the opera's most famous arias. Then come two pages labeled "Let's Discover Mozart's Other Operas," with short summaries of Don Giovanni, Cosí Fan Tutte and The Marriage of Figaro. It surprised me that the book should point children toward those operas, with all their sexual intrigue (which the summaries carefully avoid mentioning). But then, this same series includes a storybook of La Traviata. If they don't mind introducing children to an opera about a courtesan, then it makes sense that they wouldn't consider the Mozart/Da Ponte operas taboo either.
While it's less widely available than Kyra Teis's charming picture book, this different yet equally striking version is more faithful to the opera's libretto. It's probably the better choice to introduce a child not only to the story of The Magic Flute, but to the opera itself. It might not be perfect, but it's unforgettable, and if you find a copy while searching for ways to introduce a child to opera, I recommend it!
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