The Selfish Giant [Hardcover]

Oscar Wilde (Author), Lisbeth Zwerger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0907234305 | ISBN-13: 978-0907234302

A once selfish giant welcomes the children to his previously forbidden garden and is eventually rewarded by an unusual tiny child.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 28 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (August 20, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0907234305
• ISBN-13: 978-0907234302
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #860,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great story in it's original form, April 27, 2009

By 

J. Broestler "broestjw" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Selfish Giant (A Michael Neugebauer Book) (Paperback)

For those who are hung up on the Christian themes - it is what it is. That's what the author intended, so if you don't like it, find the watered down version or just don't read it. Simple as that.

Honestly I find that whole line of objection plainly ridiculous. It's like saying, "Macbeth would be a great play if they hadn't had those witches in it". The whole intent was to illustrate the great theme of Redemption and Grace, written by a man (Wilde) who by the end of his life was grieved by the way in which he had wasted so much of his life (the garden) pursuing selfish interests. If you eliminate the spiritual element from the story, you've emasculated it simply to avoid offending a few tender minds in our 'tolerant' modern age.

Anyway, this is a good version of the story. It faithfully reproduces it, which I believe delivers the full impact that it was supposed to. The edited versions seem vacuous. The illustrations are very nice, but a couple don't seem to fit the text very well. The story is broken down into relatively short sections per page, so you're not sitting there for ten minutes between page turns - a nice touch for parents of figgety kids!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kindness Goes a Long Way, March 11, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Selfish Giant (Paperback)

In this story, there is a very selfish giant. He hates kids and won't let them play in his garden. This causes spring not to come. This goes on for years; no children playing, no spring. Finally, one day, many many years later, the children just play in the garden without permission, and spring comes. All of the kids are climbing trees, except for one little boy. Something amazing happens, but you have to read the story to find out what it is.
I think this story is trying to teach us that kindness goes a long way. If you are mean and grumpy all the time, you will have no joys in your life now, or even after death. If you are nice, loving, and caring, that will go along way, and you will be rewarded for that later. Everyone should remember, what you do now, will eventually come back to you, in some way or form. Treat others how you wanted to be treated back.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A ballet of words and images, December 14, 2008

By 

Lila Faye-Blue - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selfish Giant (A Michael Neugebauer Book) (Paperback)

Although you may be hit with sticker shock at first if unaware of this story, it is a book well worth it; truly a work of art - a ballet of words and images. I saw a movie of this as a child but had no idea of the name, but the story stuck with me for close to 35 years. I then read a reference to it in Ink Heart and purchased the book immediately. It is now a favorite of my children and it brings them to tears - both sad and joyful - every time we read it. It has a beautiful storyline with wonderful morales to instil, Christian or not (though there is a lovely Christian reference at the end, but not so over the top that if you are not Christian, you couldn't share with your child. The point is the sacrifice and unconditional love) Regardless, it is truly beautiful and from the art perspective alone, worth the cost. And for me, it is well worth the cost to see the compassion for the characters in my children's eyes, and to see them then carry that over to daily life.