{ "id": "ep250sw46p", "slug": "shrek-ep250sw46p", "title": "Shrek!", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.literature", "label": "Literature and written works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works", "label": "Creative written works and worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction", "label": "Genre fiction categories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience", "label": "Audience, identity, and theme fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience.childrens_fiction", "label": "Children's fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience.childrens_fiction" }, { "id": "culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience.childrens_fiction.children-s-picture-books", "label": "Children's picture books", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience.childrens_fiction.children-s-picture-books" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Audience, identity, and theme fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.literature", "label": "Literature and written works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.literature" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works", "label": "Creative written works and worlds", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction", "label": "Genre fiction categories", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience", "label": "Audience, identity, and theme fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Shrek! is William Steig's 1990 picture book about a repulsive ogre who leaves home and marries an even uglier princess, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; unlike the DreamWorks film it inspired, its hero has no kind heart hidden inside.", "snippet": "Shrek! is William Steig's 1990 picture book about a repulsive ogre who leaves home and marries an even uglier princess, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; unlike the DreamWorks film it inspired, its hero has no kind heart hidden inside.", "node": "culture.literature.works.works.genre-fiction.audience.childrens_fiction.children-s-picture-books", "markdown": "# Shrek!\n\n*Shrek!* is a 1990 children's picture book written and illustrated by [William Steig](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-steig) about a thoroughly repulsive ogre who leaves his parents' home, terrifies everyone he meets, and, following a witch's prophecy, sets out to marry a princess even uglier than himself[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-steig/shrek/). Published by [Farrar, Straus and Giroux](https://www.edgepedia.org/farrar-straus-and-giroux) under the Michael di Capua Books imprint, it became the basis of [DreamWorks Animation](https://www.edgepedia.org/dreamworks-animation)'s 2001 Academy Award-winning film *Shrek* and its franchise[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/steig-william-h-1907) • [3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20021216/38836-scholastic-in-publishing-agreement-with-dreamworks.html).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Author | William Steig (1907–2003), Caldecott and Newbery Medal winner, longtime *New Yorker* cartoonist[4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/) • [5](https://carlemuseum.org/art-books/collections/featured-artists/william-steig) |\n| First published | October 17, 1990, Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Michael di Capua Books, New York[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-steig/shrek/) |\n| Length and audience | 30 unnumbered pages in the first edition; recommended for ages 4–8[6](https://libcat.weber.edu/bib/888411) • [4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/) |\n| Plot | The ogre Shrek leaves his swampy home, frightens people and animals everywhere he goes, hears a witch's prophecy, and marries a princess uglier than himself[4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/) • [7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374368777) |\n| Character contrast | Unlike the film's Shrek, the original has no kind, lonely soul hiding inside; he delights in being repulsive[8](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/audiobook-reviews/william-steig/shrek/) |\n| Film rights | Purchased by director Steven Spielberg in 1991, the first Hollywood interest in the book; DreamWorks later produced the 2001 film[9](https://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/shrek-study-guide.pdf) |\n| Film result | The 2001 film won an Academy Award and generated more than $265 million in U.S. box office receipts[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20021216/38836-scholastic-in-publishing-agreement-with-dreamworks.html) |\n| Current editions | Kept in print by Square Fish (Macmillan); translations include Swedish, Russian, Turkish, Spanish, Polish, and Italian[4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/) • [10](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/145434-shrek) |\n\n## The story\n\nShrek is described in the book as a horrid little ogre whose parents, having raised him to be suitably horrible, \"hissed things over\" and \"kicked him goodbye\" so that he would go out into the world and frighten people as they had[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-steig/shrek/). He slogs along the road giving off awful fumes; wherever he goes, people and animals flee, and he delights in being repulsive[7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374368777). His hideous appearance and the smoke belching from his ears, plus his \"putrid blue flame,\" send even a \"whopper of a dragon\" packing[7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374368777).\n\nOn his travels he meets a witch who prophesies that he will marry a princess even uglier than he is. Intrigued, he sets out to find her, encountering a knight in armor and a dragon on the way, and at last the two repulsive lovers meet and exchange heartfelt declarations of mutual admiration before getting hitched as soon as possible[4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/) • [7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374368777). The story is told in Steig's characteristic rhyming, playful language across roughly thirty pages[11](https://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/VP/article/view/3893).\n\nThe book plays fairy-tale expectations in reverse: the hero and heroine are the monsters, and ugliness is a source of pride and happiness rather than a curse to be lifted. A Kirkus starred review called it \"an original—and comical—reexamination of the reverse world of monsterdom,\" and *The Washington Post Book World* called it \"sure to enchant any child lucky enough to read it\"[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-steig/shrek/) • [4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/). *Publishers Weekly* reviewed it as \"an engrossing and satisfying tale\" by an author whose \"epigrammatic genius is given full rein\"[7](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374368777).\n\n## William Steig and the book's creation\n\nSteig was already famous when he wrote it. Hailed as the \"King of Cartoons,\" he produced some 2,600 drawings and 123 covers for *The New Yorker* over his career[5](https://carlemuseum.org/art-books/collections/featured-artists/william-steig). He began a second career in children's books in 1968 at age 61 with *Roland the Minstrel Pig*, and just two years later won the [Caldecott Medal](https://www.edgepedia.org/caldecott-medal) for *Sylvester and the Magic Pebble*[5](https://carlemuseum.org/art-books/collections/featured-artists/william-steig). *Shrek!* appeared in 1990, when he was in his eighties, and he illustrated it in color himself[1](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-steig/shrek/) • [12](https://www.typepunchmatrix.com/images/upload/tpm-print-cat-2-online.pdf). His widow Jeanne Steig described him as a \"tragicomic artist,\" and his expressive animal and monster characters are signatures of his picture books[5](https://carlemuseum.org/art-books/collections/featured-artists/william-steig).\n\nThe film was based on Steig's 1990 picture book of the same title, though with an exclamation point added to the book's title[2](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/steig-william-h-1907).\n\n## First edition and publication history\n\nThe true first is the 1990 New York edition from Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Michael di Capua Books. A first printing states \"First edition, 1990\" on the copyright page with no later printings listed, is bound in glossy pictorial boards with olive green endpapers, and, an important point for collectors, was issued without a dust jacket; any copy offered \"in dust jacket\" is misdescribed[13](https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/shrek). The publisher's printed price appears at the lower left corner of the back cover[13](https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/shrek).\n\nThe book has stayed in print. Later editions include a Viking Children's Books hardcover in 2000, a Puffin paperback in 2001 after the film appeared, a Farrar, Straus and Giroux 20th-anniversary edition in 2010, and the current Square Fish paperback[10](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/145434-shrek) • [4](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/). An audiobook read by [Stanley Tucci](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-tucci) was issued by Macmillan Young Listeners in 2009, and an earlier audio edition read by Robert Sevra was reviewed by Kirkus[10](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/145434-shrek) • [8](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/audiobook-reviews/william-steig/shrek/). The book's honors include listing among Publishers Weekly's and School Library Journal's best books of the year[14](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781466814509/shrek/).\n\n## From book to film\n\n[Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg) bought the film rights in 1991, the first Hollywood interest in the book[9](https://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/shrek-study-guide.pdf). DreamWorks Animation's *Shrek*, directed by [Andrew Adamson](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrew-adamson) and Vicky Jenson and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, opened wide on May 18, 2001, grossed $267.7 million in the United States, and holds an 89 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes[15](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek).\n\nThe adaptation transformed a roughly 30-page picture book into a feature screenplay by developing the plot, adding settings and supporting characters, and modifying the protagonist to make him more sympathetic[16](https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/undergradsymposiumksu/Fall2021/presentations/157/). Donkey appeared in William Steig's original book, while Lord Farquaad and [Princess Fiona](https://www.edgepedia.org/princess-fiona)'s curse were inventions of the film adaptation; the film also parodies the world of Disney, and [Jeffrey Katzenberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeffrey-katzenberg), a DreamWorks founder, had left Disney in 1994[17](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/03/31/a-tale-of-two-studios/95dfada9-16f9-4052-a4d9-4f9d76dd222b/) • [9](https://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/shrek-study-guide.pdf). Screenwriter [Terry Rossio](https://www.edgepedia.org/terry-rossio) said the timing mattered: the book came along at a time when it had a context in which a comic fantasy of this kind could be made[18](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/ted-elliott-and-terry-rossio-on-shrek/).\n\nScholars have noted the tonal shift. Lewis Roberts observes that \"William Steig's book is anything but a Disney-esque, formulaic story,\" while the DreamWorks adaptations, in his reading, offer models of identity rooted in commodity culture[19](https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/llibres/2021/236285/gen21cen_a2021.pdf). A study of fairy-tale characters in the films describes Steig's 1990 text as transformed through what Raquel Segovia terms *transferencia o trasvase*, a combined translation-and-adaptation process turning a printed storybook into an audiovisual product, one that went on to shape the fairy-tale canon of the twenty-first century through three sequels[11](https://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/VP/article/view/3893).\n\nThe film's success also revived the book commercially: Penguin Putnam, DreamWorks' original master publishing licensee, sold 500,000 copies of four *Shrek* tie-in titles within two months of the film's release[3](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20021216/38836-scholastic-in-publishing-agreement-with-dreamworks.html).\n\n## References\n\n1. [SHREK! by William Steig, Kirkus Reviews (Sept. 15, 1990 issue)](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-steig/shrek/)\n2. [Steig, William (H.) 1907–2003, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/steig-william-h-1907)\n3. [Scholastic in Publishing Agreement with DreamWorks, Publishers Weekly (Dec. 16, 2002)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20021216/38836-scholastic-in-publishing-agreement-with-dreamworks.html)\n4. [Shrek!, Macmillan (Square Fish)](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780312384494/shrek/)\n5. [William Steig, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art](https://carlemuseum.org/art-books/collections/featured-artists/william-steig)\n6. [Shrek! / William Steig, Stewart Library catalog, Weber State University](https://libcat.weber.edu/bib/888411)\n7. [Shrek! by William Steig, review, Publishers Weekly (Oct. 1, 1990)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780374368777)\n8. [SHREK! audiobook review, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/audiobook-reviews/william-steig/shrek/)\n9. [The History of Shrek, Wheelock Family Theatre study guide](https://www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/shrek-study-guide.pdf)\n10. [Editions of Shrek! by William Steig, Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/145434-shrek)\n11. [Rebeca Cristina López González, \"Fairy Tale Characters in Shrek: Subversion and New Canon,\" VIA Panorámica](https://ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/VP/article/view/3893)\n12. [Type Punch Matrix print catalog, item 113: Shrek! (1990)](https://www.typepunchmatrix.com/images/upload/tpm-print-cat-2-online.pdf)\n13. [Is \"Shrek!\" a First Edition? Points of Issue, New Mexico Literacy Project](https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/shrek)\n14. [Shrek! (eBook edition page), Macmillan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR)](https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781466814509/shrek/)\n15. [Shrek (2001), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shrek)\n16. [Art of Adaptation: The Comparison Between the Book and the Film, Kennesaw State University Symposium of Student Scholars (Fall 2021)](https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/undergradsymposiumksu/Fall2021/presentations/157/)\n17. [A Tale of Two Studios, The Washington Post (Mar. 31, 2001)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/03/31/a-tale-of-two-studios/95dfada9-16f9-4052-a4d9-4f9d76dd222b/)\n18. [Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio on Shrek, Creative Screenwriting](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/ted-elliott-and-terry-rossio-on-shrek/)\n19. [Reading SF Short Fiction (2021), with Lewis Roberts quotation, UAB digital deposit](https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/llibres/2021/236285/gen21cen_a2021.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Genre fiction categories › Audience, identity, and theme fiction › Children's fiction › Children's picture books*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Shrek!\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Shrek!](https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p](https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Shrek!\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/shrek-ep250sw46p. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Shrek! is William Steig's 1990 picture book about a repulsive ogre who leaves home and marries an even uglier princess, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux; unlike the DreamWorks film it inspired, its hero has no kind heart hidden inside." }