The Happy Prince and Other Tales - Oscar Wilde

Life is kinda cool, you know: Sherbet lemons, and cherries; Hercule Poirot and The Magic Faraway Tree (Fanny, Dick and Co.); Eric Cantona and Andy Payton. Clouds, and coal fires, and pubs that smell nice; Cows and dogs, and butterscotch. Bread baking in an oven, Wimbledon in the summertime, long walks and seaside Donkey rides. Then there’s the cool places, with cool sounding names, like Ouagadougou (Capital Of Burkina Faso), and Wee Waa (Australia). Music, that makes you smile: Damon Albarn and Miho Hatori. French fancies, and little birthday parties that you went to when you were young (Except the dresses, now those were awful). Paris-Saint-Germain and Burnley FC. ...

Wilde wrote a collection of fairytales which are sometimes tacked onto collections of his writings, but are usually published independently, as children's books. I still find it hard to read 'The Happy Prince' without a little lump developing in my throat in the last paragraph.. (no, I'm not giving it away and telling you any more, but you'll see what I mean if you read it!). It is the story of a statue of a Prince, who, although inanimate, is able to see all the people in 'his' city and endevours to try to help them, enlisting the assistance of a swallow who is a little late for migration south. Of course ...

I never really saw Oscar Wilde as a children’s author, sure a wit, a raconteur, an author, playwright and a notorious man about town but a children’s author no. I was given a book by my wife Oscar Wildes Stories for Children and I wasn’t sure. What immediately caught my eye was the beautiful illustrations by P.J Lynch, delicate, rich and totally fitting to the stories. Then I read the first story in the set was “The Selfish Giant.” It is wonderful, I’m sure I couldn’t do justice to it myself but Wilde weaves words so well it appeals to both children, my 3 and a half year old is rapt, and adults equally well, ...