Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde: The Birthday of the Infanta

With brilliant illustrations by a master of comic art, the lyrical prose of this fairy tale by Oscar Wilde is brought to life. A hideous dwarf is captured in the woods and brought in to the court of the beautiful royal infanta for her amusement. He is full of good humor and tricks and becomes quite popular but remains quite unaware of his looks. She has him perform in front of her friends for her birthday. He is very touched and quite proud to receive such attention, until he sees himself in the mirror and realizes their entertainment may be at his expense. Perfect for middle school students as an introduction to the world-famous author, the dazzling illustrations in this book suit the timeless writings of Wilde.

Oscar Wilde was a playwright, essayist, and novelist. He was the author of The Importance of Being Earnest and The Picture of Dorian Gray. P. Craig Russell is the author of several comics, and has adapted other fairy tales written by Oscar Wilde, as well as operas composed by Wagner and Mozart. He has won multiple Eisner, Harvey, and Parents' Choice Awards. He lives in Kent, Ohio.