Oscar Wildes childrens stories explore timeless themes of good and evil, freedom and responsibility, love and death, beauty and self-sacrifice. Featuring princesses, ogres and talking animals, the questions they pose are as pertinent now as they were at the turn of the century. What is love? asks The Happy Prince. How do you get what you need? asks The Nightingale and the Rose. How do you win friends (and avoid alienating people)? asks The Selfish Giant. Can you have too much compassion? asks The Devoted Friend. How can you set the world on fire? asks The Remarkable Rocket. Wildes stories have given pleasure to generations of readers. By turns moving and funny, they gently teach free thinking rather than giving prescriptive lessons. This beautiful collectors edition with original watercolour illustrations and decorative motifs from the 1913 edition by Charles Robinson and an introduction by Wilde expert Michle Mendelssohn is certain to surprise and delight adults and children alike.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 9 years.

There are 96 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2022 by Bodleian Library .

Oscar Wilde was born in Ireland in 1854 and is known for his poetry, plays and the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray . He died in Paris in 1900. Charles Robinson (1870 - 1937) is best known for his classic illustrations to fairy tales and other children's books, including Robert Louis Stevenson's Child's Garden of Verses and Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.