| Now
a major motion picture from Dreamworks! Starring
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, and Linda
Hunt. For more
information on the motion picture . . .
"A
mischievous, topsy-turvy chronicle of a nasty ogre's wonder
years." --Parenting
Shrek, a horrid little ogre,
goes out into the world to find adventure and along the way
encounters a witch, a knight in armor, a dragon, and finally, a
hideous princess, who's even uglier then he is!
"An engrossing and
satisfying tale." --Publishers Weekly
"Sure to enchant any
child lucky enough to read it . . . such an ingratiating, cheery book
that no one will be able to resist it." --The
Washington Post Book World
Awards
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Publishers Weekly Notable Children's Book of the Year
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews - *starred
review
In Steig's inimitable style -- imaginative whimsy with a strong dose of
mellow common sense -- here's an antihero for the young: green-headed
Shrek, described as rather uglier than he's pictured, begins his
quest for a still-uglier princess by "slogging along the road,
giving off his awful fumes" after his parents have "hissed
things over" and "kicked him goodbye." Not since
Briggs's Fungus the Bogeyman (1979) has there been such an
original -- and comical -- reexamination of the reverse world of
monsterdom.
School Library Journal -
*starred review
Argh, it's Shrek, spitting flame and venting smoke, even uglier than
his parents, who kick him goodbye and send him off in the world.
He's off on a linear journey to find his true love, foretold by a
witch after she recovers from the sight of him. In a maniacal
version of the hero's quest, he finds helpers and perils along the
way: a dragon, a dream, a donkey, and more. The text rolls right
along, here breaking into rhyme, there into knightish talk
("You there, varlet . . . why so blithe?"), there into
outright silliness ("Pheasant, peasant? What a pleasant
present!") Perfectly pleased with his hideous self, Shrek
finally gains entrance to the ugly princess' castle, and after an
operatic duet, the two are united, the bride carrying a cactus for a
bouquet. The pictures are just as nutty as the story. . . blending with
the text so thoroughly, sometimes echoing, sometimes expanding
it, that it's hard to imagine one without the other. It's all here
for Steig fans: magic, animism, chaos, self-reliance, hope, and
fulfillment, and from one offbeat episode to the next, it all hangs
together to make Shrek's destiny seem just right. The fast-forward
movement of the story and the inventive challenging language, full
of surprises, make this especially fun to read aloud.
Booklist
Steig turns from obstreperous
boys like Spinky (Spinky Sulks) 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 his 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 his fiery breath, and frightens himself
delightfully when he stumbles into a room full of mirrors. As
usual, Steig is clever and irreverent.
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Shrek!