Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant

by Oscar Wilde, Mary Hollingsworth, Bill Bell (Illustrator)

Overview

After seven years, the Giant has nothing left to say to his friend the Cornish ogre, and so he returns home to his castle—only to find that in his absence, the children have been playing in his beautiful garden. At once the selfish Giant builds a high wall to keep the children out of the garden. Winter turns into Spring all over the country—but not in the selfish Giant's garden. Across the country Spring turns into Summer and then to Autumn—but in the selfish Giant's garden, the trees refuse to bloom and the birds refuse to sing; they miss the children. The selfish Giant lies shivering in his large bed while Hail, Snow, North Wind, and Frost dance across the garden. But one morning the Giant hears a beautiful noise—what could it be?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626363557
Publisher:	Sky Pony
Publication date:	07/01/2013
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD960L (what's this?)
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Oscar Wilde is one of the most popular writers of the late nineteenth century. Born in 1854 to Anglo-Irish intelligentsia parents, Wilde was educated at a very young age, quickly becoming trilingual and interested in philosophy. Throughout his career, he wrote many essays, plays, and short stories but only one novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was criticized by contemporary reviewers for its homosexual undertones as well as its themes of self-indulgence and immorality. Although a failure during its time, the novel was later heralded as a classic. His other well-known works include Lady Windmere’s Fan, De Profundis, and The Importance of Being Earnest. At the peak of his career, Wilde was arrested on the grounds of “gross indecency with men,” tried, and sentenced to two years in prison. Upon his release, he was exiled from Britain and never returned. He died in Paris in 1900, impoverished and alone, at the young age of forty-six.

Date of Birth:

October 16, 1854

Date of Death:

November 30, 1900

Place of Birth:

Dublin, Ireland

Place of Death:

Paris, France

Education:

The Royal School in Enniskillen, Dublin, 1864; Trinity College, Dublin, 1871; Magdalen College, Oxford, England, 1874

Editorial Reviews

Gallagher's (Moonhorse) eerily stylized paintings lend a haunting resonance to this moralistic tale of a hardened man who learns to open his heart. When the curmudgeonly Giant denies the local children access to his expansive garden, a great chill descends on them all. Winter lingers and spring refuses to scale the garden walls. But the children find a way into the beloved spot and the trees, grateful for the company and attention, begin to bloom. Seeing such beauty, the Giant is transformed and befriends his young neighbors, allowing them free rein. Not long afterward, a special boy appears to escort the old man to Paradise. Wilde's lessons are easily deciphered, though children may be confused by the overt religious imagery at tale's end. The towering but somehow gentlemanly Giant on the book's black-bordered jacket cuts an intriguing and imposing swath. Meanwhile, Gallagher's gallivanting and ghostly-white Snow, Frost and North Wind characters and her warm and golden images of happy children and gorgeous blossoms create plenty of drama. All ages. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The familiar Wilde tale is well served by Gallagher's illustrations, in which the clothing and the faces of the children who come into the blooming garden are in strong contrast to the costumes and figures of the people who rule the wintry landscape after the selfish giant has exiled the children. The giant's size is also well handled: it's clear that every adult looks like a giant to a child. The story's ending, which implies that the child has returned to take the giant to Paradise, should be noted as a departure from what some readers expect in the giant genre.

Mary Harris Veeder