Summary
Before Shrek made it big on the silver screen, there was William Steig's SHREK!, a book about an ordinary ogre who leaves his swampy childhood home to go out and see the world.
Ordinary, that is, if a foul and hideous being who ends up marrying the most stunningly ugly princess on the planet is what you consider ordinary.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review:
"Ages 6-9. Steig turns from obstreperous boys like Spinky (Spinky Sulks [BKL Ja 15 89]) to obstreperous monsters in this weird fantasy featuring a warty green horror who loves to be ugly and mean. So vile is he that "any snake dumb enough to bite him instantly got convulsions and died." Kicked out of the black hole of his birth by mom and dad, Shrek sets off on a cross-country trek to find the ugly princess whom a local witch has prophesied he will marry. He finds her, but only after he scares half the countryside, defeats a knight by heating his armor with blasts of fiery breath, and frightens himself delightfully when he stumbles into a room full of mirrors. As usual, Steig is clever and irreverent. Here, though, that's not enough. Isolated goings-on are certainly funny, as is some of Steig's odd verse. But many of his flights into doggerel fall flat, and his poke at fairy tale and quest conventions will seem odd to children still new to the genre he seems to be aping. There's no denying that Shrek's ugly visage is deliciously terrifying and his nastiness ever so splendid. Like Gantos' well-known Rotten Ralph, he is thoroughly despicable and self-concerned. But where Ralph is simply a spoiled, very childlike, bratty cat, Shrek is complex, sly, and ruthless, and there's an adult undertone to his antics that will make his adventures and his character difficult for some children to wholeheartedly enjoy. ~--Stephanie Zvirin"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review:
"No doubt about it, Shrek is the ugliest guy in town. Everywhere he goes, people and animals flee. If his hideous appearance does not immediately fell them, the smoke belching from his ears and his ``putrid blue flame'' sends even the mighty--including ``a whopper of a dragon''--packing. Yet Shrek is inordinately proud of his green knobby head and loathsome figure, and he roams the countryside having the kind of fun that only tormenting the vulnerable can provide. Hearing a witch prophesy that he will marry a princess who is even uglier than he is, Shrek is intrigued, and he sets out to find this repulsive bride. When they finally meet, the two break into heartfelt declarations of mutual admiration. (``Your horny warts, your rosy wens, / Like slimy bogs and fusty fens, / Thrill me.'') Of course, they ``got hitched as soon as possible.'' Steig's epigrammatic genius is given full rein in this engrossing and satisfying tale. The implicit promise (or threat) of a sequel--perhaps detailing the exploits of the pair's offspring--is indeed delicious to contemplate. Ages 3-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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