The Selfish Giant

by Oscar Wilde

First published 1995

In a lonely castle, a giant returns to find children playing in his magnificent garden. Enraged, he builds high walls and drives them away, casting the garden into perpetual winter. No bird sings. No spring arrives. But when one small child returns—ignored by the other children—something extraordinary begins to stir in the giant's hardened heart. As seasons pass and the garden remains frozen, the giant discovers that true hospitality demands more than mere physical space. A delicate allegory of redemption blooms against the stark landscape of isolation.

Genres: fiction, fantasy, 19th-century

Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking

Tropes: found-family, redemption

Period: 19th-Century

32 pages · Hardcover · Putnam Juvenile

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