Russell's two retellings here, The Selfish Giant and The Star Child , adeptly capture Wilde's ability to bring a gentle, unexpected note of pathos to the conventional fairy-tale mix of anthropomorphic fantasy and whimsical moral guidance.
In The Selfish Giant, the eponymous creature kicks a bunch of frolicking youngsters out of his garden, only to find that frosty winter moves in to take their place, refusing to leave because of his selfishness.
In The Star Child, a beautiful but mean , narcissistic boy becomes physically repulsive when he rebuffs a ragged beggar who turns out to be his long lost mother. - Publishers Weekly