In a town where a lot of poor people suffer and where there are a lot of miseries, a swallow who was left behind after his flock flew off to Egypt for the winter, meets the statue of the late Happy Prince, who in reality has never experienced true sorrow, for he lived in a palace where sorrow isnt allowed to enter. Viewing various scenes of people suffering in poverty from his tall monument, the Happy Prince asks the swallow to take the ruby from his hilt, the sapphires from his eyes, and the golden leaf covering his body to give to the poor. As the winter comes and the Happy Prince is stripped of all of his beauty, his lead heart breaks when the swallow dies as a result of his selfless deeds and severe cold. The statue is then brought down from the pillar and melted in a furnace leaving behind the broken heart and the dead swallow and they are thrown in a dust heap. These are taken up to heaven by an angel that has deemed them the two most precious things in the city. This is affirmed by God and they live forever in his city of gold and garden of paradise.
This book has been graded for interest at 5 years.
There are 48 pages in this book.
This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+).
This book was published in 2018 by Thames & Hudson Ltd .
Clementine Beauvais is a Lecturer in Education at the University of York, and is the author of over ten children's books. Maisie Paradise Shearring is an acclaimed illustrator from Hull. In 2015 she won the International Award for Illustration at Bologna Children's Book Fair. Thames & Hudson recently published her interpretation of Oscar Wilde's classic story, The Happy Prince. 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.
This book contains the following story:
The Happy Prince
After dying young, the Happy Prince's soul inhabits a beautiful ruby-encrusted statue covered in gold leaf which is perched high above the city. But when he sees the poverty, misery and desperateness of his people, he enlists the help of a barn swallow to remove the gilding of his statue and shower the riches on his people. In the spring, the townspeople are saved, but find only a stripped down and dull statue alongside a dead swallow. The remains are tossed into an ash heap, but an emissary of God recognizes their sacrifice, and escorts them into the gardens of Heaven.
'A thing of beauty ... Maisie Paradise Shearring's illustrations [...] are extraordinary' - Sunday Times
'Delicious, alternately panoramic and intimate ... full of the kind of detail that keen little eyes love' - Littlest Librarian
'Emotional, nuanced and tear-enducing ... Maisie Paradie Shearring's illustrations make the classic Oscar Wilde tale relevant for a new generation' - Two in a Teepee
