Oscar Wilde's Stories for Children - Oscar Wilde - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Oscar Wilde

ILLUSTRATOR: Lauren O’Hara

GENRE: Children's Fiction, Classic.

PUBLICATION DATE: January 13, 2026

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A collection of six stories written by Oscar Wilde. Originally written as bedtime stories, but I doubt if these would work in their unabridged form for today’s children. But if parents could help with simplifying the language, the book might still click well. It’s Oscar Wilde, after all! The illustrations in this edition are a bonus.

Oscar Wilde is one of my favourite short story authors. I think I have written almost every work of his. Some of his stories are such absolute favourites of mine that I can gladly reread them. Two of them are a part of this book.

This new collection contains six stories that were originally penned by Wilde as ‘fairy stories’ i.e. stories written for children. Of the six tales, five have been taken from the collection ‘The Happy Prince and Other Stories’ (1888), while the sixth is from ‘A House of Pomegranates’ (1891).

I love most of these stories. ‘The Selfish Giant’ and ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’, are my top two favourite short stories by Wilde. ‘The Happy Prince’ and ‘The Devoted Friend’ are also delightful. The fifth story of this anthology – ‘The Remarkable Rocket’ – isn’t a special favourite of mine, but it still has enough to recommend it, especially as a children’s work. The sixth story, ‘The Young King’, isn't among my preferred Wilde works. It is decent, but quite jumpy and too descriptive. As such, five of the six stories would be winners for me.

BUT the book isn’t aimed at general readers but at children. Today’s children. Children who don’t even type out words using all letters, forget about writing a paragraph. Children who find watching movies better than reading books. Children who zone out after every few paragraphs and jump to ChatGPT for homework help. Is this generation capable of reading an unabridged Oscar Wilde work? I am not sure. Had these been adapted or simplified versions of the original tales, they would have stood a better chance. (Yeah, I am not exactly in an optimistic mood today.)

Of the six stories, I feel that ‘The Selfish Giant’, ‘The Devoted Friend’, and ‘The Remarkable Rocket’ work well enough for kids. ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ and ‘The Happy Prince’ are amazing options as long as the child isn't too sensitive about character deaths. Given the ending of both these stories, they certainly aren’t joyous tales, though there’s no doubting their beauty. This leaves us with ‘The Young King’. If I didn’t like it as an adult reader, I certainly would have been bored of it had I read it in my childhood. I hope it works better for other kids.

The book ends with a brief bio on Oscar Wilde – a good addition.

As an attuned classics reader and a huge Wilde fan, I know what to expect from his works. Some of the content might seem dated to modern eyes, and some of the content has religious undertones, which might take secular readers by surprise. I’ll just say, every classic work must be evaluated keeping in mind the writer’s personal beliefs and the societal standards in THAT era, and not by our 21st century perspectives.

All of the included stories are already available in the public domain. One motivation to invest in this hardcover version is provided by the beautiful illustrations sketched in water-colour style. Though the giant wasn’t really the kind of giant I had pictured in my head, I still liked the all-colour artwork and their dreamy vibes. The other motivation could be the appeal of the physical copy as described in the blurb: high-quality paper, a linen-effect cover, gold foil details, a ribbon bookmark and classic binding touches, printed and bound in Italy, and published by an Irish publisher.

Overall, I hope children can discover the wonder of Oscar Wilde’s writing through this collection. While I am not sure if the descriptive language in a couple of these stories would appeal to modern young readers, the remaining stories are still beautiful enough to merit a read. This special luxe edition would be a beautiful gifting option during the festive season. The official target is children aged 9-14 years.

4 stars, based on the average of my ratings for all the stories. (5 stars for my two favourites ‘The Selfish Giant’ and ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’, 4.5 stars for ‘The Happy Prince’, 3.5 stars for ‘The Devoted Friend’ and ‘The Remarkable Rocket’, and 2 stars for ‘The Young King’. These ratings are based on my experience with the stories and not on how they work for children.)

My thanks to Little Island Books for providing the DRC of “Oscar Wilde's Stories for Children” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.