The Selfish Giant (Picture Puffins)

by Michael Foreman (Illustrator), Freire Wright (Illustrator), Michael Foreman (Illustrator), Michael Foreman (Illustrator), Freire Wright (Illustrator), Oscar Wilde (Author)

New
Illustrated
1982
$10.03

When the Selfish Giant builds a high wall round his lovely garden to keep the children out, the North Wind blows, the Frost comes and the Snow dances through the trees. The Giant wonders why Spring never comes to his cold, white garden. Then one day the Giant looks out to see a most wonderful sight...Oscar Wilde's much-loved fairy-tale is brought to life again with beautiful illustrations by Michael Foreman and Freire Wright.

Synopsis

When the Selfish Giant builds a high wall round his lovely garden to keep the children out, the North Wind blows, the Frost comes and the Snow dances through the trees. The Giant wonders why Spring never comes to his cold, white garden. Then one day the Giant looks out to see a most wonderful sight...Oscar Wilde's much-loved fairy-tale is brought to life again with beautiful illustrations by Michael Foreman and Freire Wright.

$10.03

Save:$0.06 (1%)

Quantity

9 in stock

More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 32
Edition: New Ed
Publisher: Puffin
Published: 27 May 1982
ISBN 10: 0140503838
ISBN 13: 9780140503838
Children’s book age: 0-5 Years
Book Overview: Runner-up for the Mother Goose Award

Media Reviews

The Selfish Giant is a musical, artistic and literary tour de force. Dan Goeller has created a stunning work that summons just the right musical tension and release with his compelling orchestrations. I can't think of any age group who would not be thoroughly enthralled with the confluence of these three artistic expressions in the telling of this story. --Greg Nelson, seven-time Grammy Award winning songwriter and producer
The reillustration of any classic fairy story is always cause of celebration. Yet it is rare to find a book take quite as much joy in the original text as artist Chris Beatrice has here. Playing with light and beauty, Beatrice brings Oscar Wilde's original story to rip-roaring life. You can practically smell the thick perfumes of the flowers in this garden, or feel the warm spring breezes. Without a doubt, this is the best illustrated version of this tale that I have ever seen. Period. --Betsy Bird, children's librarian, New York Public Library, and member, Newberry Award committee
Here is a celebration of wonder and love. Goeller's music is a perfect complement to Wilde's story and Beatrice's paintings. I'm thrilled to see this old story gain new life in such a beautiful way. --Kathi Apelt, Newberry Honor winner and National Book finalist, and author, The Underneath
A veritable feast for the eyes and ears. --Joseph Pearce, author, The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde
I really enjoyed my first reading of The Selfish Giant . My enjoyment increased hugely upon listening to Dan Goeller's imaginative and beautifully orchestrated musical setting. As with all great musical settings of words and images, Mr. Goeller's music gives wings to the story. --Keith Lockhart, conductor, Boston Pops Orchestra
What makes this new book stand out is the CD and the music. I would guess that this could easily become a real favorite with young children. If you're looking for fairy tale entertainment, then The Selfish Giant is a good place to start. --Ann Giles, blogger, The Bookwitch , and columnist, The Guardian
A window into both this wonderful story and the world of the orchestra. --Delta David Gier, former conductor and host, NY Philharmonic Young People's Concert Series

Author Bio

Michael Foreman is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He went to Trinity College, Dublin and then to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he began to propagandize the new Aesthetic (or 'Art for Art's Sake') Movement. Despite winning a first and the Newdigate Prize for Poetry, Wilde failed to obtain an Oxford scholarship, and was forced to earn a living by lecturing and writing for periodicals. After his marriage to Constance Lloyd in 1884, he tried to establish himself as a writer, but with little initial success. However, his three volumes of short fiction, The Happy Prince (1888), Lord Arthur Savile's Crime (1891) and A House of Pomegranates (1891), together with his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), gradually won him a reputation as a modern writer with an original talent, a reputation confirmed and enhanced by the phenomenal success of his Society Comedies - Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, all performed on the West End stage between 1892 and 1895. Success, however, was short-lived. In 1891 Wilde had met and fallen extravagantly in love with Lord Alfred Douglas. In 1895, when his success as a dramatist was at its height, Wilde brought an unsuccessful libel action against Douglas's father, the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde lost the case and two trials later was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for acts of gross indecency. As a result of this experience he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol. He was released from prison in 1897 and went into an immediate self-imposed exile on the Continent. He died in Paris in ignominy in 1900. Michael Foreman is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator.