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Summary: This book evokes a sense of wonder few modern tales achieve.
Review: Scary Goblins, magical string, powerful songs, and a beautiful grandmother inhabit the land of a young princess in the "Princess and the Goblin." In this book MacDonald captures the illusive beauty of a traditional fairy tale. It is almost as if he recorded a tale that the Brothers Grimm missed. The plot centers on evil goblins trying to wreak havoc in the land. The princess, an honest young boy, and a magical grandmother try to stop them. I missed this book as a child. I only discovered some of the great nineteenth century children's books while in college. Many of these often neglected books are delightful, but none produced such a sense of wonder and magic as "The Princess and the Goblin." Other books that I would recommend along these lines are: "The Princess and Curdie", "The Light Princess", and "The History of Photogen and Nycteris" all by George MacDonald. Also, "The Enchanted Castle" by E. Nesbit and "The Water Babies" by Charles Kingsley.
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Summary: Just a note about illustration
Review: So many fine reviews here already about MacDonald's powerful text (for children and adults). I would only add that this edition which includes 8 or 10 gentle and mysterious drawings (watercolors?) by Jessie Wilcox Smith portrays the fearful goblins (also Curdie, Irene, and her father, etc.) without weakening the strength of the tale or scaring the young reader. I purchased this book for an avid seven-year-old reader who loved the story and also commented on the "beautiful" pictures. The book is also good to read aloud to a number of children in a broad age range. My too-cool 11-year-old became mesmerized after the first chapter and found himself talking with his younger brother (!) about the story.
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Summary: Love Narnia? You'll love this!
Review: So you love C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles? There people who don't are few and far between. One of the biggest influences on C.S. Lewis was this man, George MacDonald (1824-1905). It was MacDonald's talent for telling fairy stories that inspired Lewis in writing his own. Like Lewis, MacDonald has a remarkable ability to tell a delightful and enchanting story for children, layered with strong Christian themes and imagery by means of allegory and symbols. 'The Princess and the Goblin' is one of his most beloved works for children, and an excellent introduction to his style and success.'The Princess and the Goblin' features a heroine ' a princess called Irene ' and a hero ' a simple miner's son called Curdie. While working overtime in the mines to earn money to buy his mother a red petty-coat, Curdie chances upon the goblins who live in the mountain, and discovers that they are hatching an evil plot against the king and his palace. Meanwhile the princess makes a discovery of her own ' high in the castle she finds a wonderful old lady who is her great-great-grandmother. The problem is, nobody else knows of her grandmother, and nobody believes her. But the princess does believe, and it is by her faith in her grandmother and the magic thread that she receives from her, that she is able to rescue Curdie. Together they rescue the entire palace from disaster at the hands of the goblins. In telling the story, MacDonald has an enchanting conversational style, wonderfully suitable for reading aloud to enraptured children ' an ability perfecting in telling stories to his own eleven children. But 'The Princess and the Goblin' is more than just a story. Before pursuing a literary career, MacDonald was a Congregationalist minister, and so integrates important underlying Christian themes. Believing in the great-great-grandmother despite the fact that many cannot see her, is a symbol of believing in God. MacDonald uses this to show how the Christian faith involves believing without seeing, and that not everyone has to 'see' something for it to be true. The grandmother's lamp and magic thread are the guides on which the princess must depend, much like the Word which is a lamp on our path. It may sound tacky, but it works. Children are not likely to grasp the deeper underlying themes that MacDonald is working with. Nonetheless the story has a clear message for children. The clear conflict between the royal powers of light against the goblin powers of darkness is unmistakable. Moreover, the princess is presented as a model of virtue, and MacDonald frequently asserts the importance of moral virtues such as always telling the truth, keeping your word, and admitting your faults ' moral virtues that are equally important for princes and princesses of God's kingdom. Courage, honesty, grace, dignity and beauty are timeless ideals for children of all times to strive for. If you love Narnia, you're sure to like this one, and you'll find yourself quickly grabbing the sequel, 'The Princess and Curdie.' 'The Princess and the Goblin' was one of J.R.R. Tolkien's childhood favorites, highly regarded by C.S. Lewis, described by W.H. Auden as 'the only English children's book in the same class as the Alice books', and generally considered as a classic example of nineteenth century children's literary fairy tales. So if you haven't yet read this book, it's about time you did. With admirers such as Tolkien, Lewis and Auden, if you become a MacDonald's admirer you'll find yourself in good company!
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Summary: Love Narnia? You�ll love this!
Review: So you love C.S. Lewis� Narnia Chronicles? There people who don�t are few and far between. One of the biggest influences on C.S. Lewis was this man, George MacDonald (1824-1905). It was MacDonald�s talent for telling fairy stories that inspired Lewis in writing his own. Like Lewis, MacDonald has a remarkable ability to tell a delightful and enchanting story for children, layered with strong Christian themes and imagery by means of allegory and symbols. �The Princess and the Goblin� is one of his most beloved works for children, and an excellent introduction to his style and success. �The Princess and the Goblin� features a heroine � a princess called Irene � and a hero � a simple miner�s son called Curdie. While working overtime in the mines to earn money to buy his mother a red petty-coat, Curdie chances upon the goblins who live in the mountain, and discovers that they are hatching an evil plot against the king and his palace. Meanwhile the princess makes a discovery of her own � high in the castle she finds a wonderful old lady who is her great-great-grandmother. The problem is, nobody else knows of her grandmother, and nobody believes her. But the princess does believe, and it is by her faith in her grandmother and the magic thread that she receives from her, that she is able to rescue Curdie. Together they rescue the entire palace from disaster at the hands of the goblins. In telling the story, MacDonald has an enchanting conversational style, wonderfully suitable for reading aloud to enraptured children � an ability perfecting in telling stories to his own eleven children. But �The Princess and the Goblin� is more than just a story. Before pursuing a literary career, MacDonald was a Congregationalist minister, and so integrates important underlying Christian themes. Believing in the great-great-grandmother despite the fact that many cannot see her, is a symbol of believing in God. MacDonald uses this to show how the Christian faith involves believing without seeing, and that not everyone has to �see� something for it to be true. The grandmother�s lamp and magic thread are the guides on which the princess must depend, much like the Word which is a lamp on our path. It may sound tacky, but it works. Children are not likely to grasp the deeper underlying themes that MacDonald is working with. Nonetheless the story has a clear message for children. The clear conflict between the royal powers of light against the goblin powers of darkness is unmistakable. Moreover, the princess is presented as a model of virtue, and MacDonald frequently asserts the importance of moral virtues such as always telling the truth, keeping your word, and admitting your faults � moral virtues that are equally important for princes and princesses of God�s kingdom. Courage, honesty, grace, dignity and beauty are timeless ideals for children of all times to strive for. If you love Narnia, you�re sure to like this one, and you�ll find yourself quickly grabbing the sequel, �The Princess and Curdie.� �The Princess and the Goblin� was one of J.R.R. Tolkien�s childhood favorites, highly regarded by C.S. Lewis, described by W.H. Auden as �the only English children�s book in the same class as the Alice books�, and generally considered as a classic example of nineteenth century children�s literary fairy tales. So if you haven�t yet read this book, it�s about time you did. With admirers such as Tolkien, Lewis and Auden, if you become a MacDonald�s admirer you�ll find yourself in good company!
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Summary: A haunting blend of true wonder, magic and grand adventure.
Review: The last time I read these books was perhaps 20 years ago, when I was 40, shortly before I handed them into the keeping of one of my daughters, who was a lover and respecter of books, and who was raising her daughter to be the same. Elizabeth had tried for several years before to find copies, only to give up and buy a condensed version, which has now gone by the wayside. A few years ago, a cartoon movie version of The Princess and the Goblin was around for a while. None of us wanted to see it, ever! This gives you an idea of the intensity with which we love these books. Why? The plotline is simple, a little girl named Irene, whose mother died when she was much younger, lives in a huge, drafty old castle with no one to play with. Her father, the king, often goes off on journeys. She does have servants... Well, one day she manages to open a door she's never been through, behind which are stairs, which she climbs to find a tower room, and there is the beginning of her adventures. There's an old, old woman-- but she's also young and beautiful, and there's a magic fire that glows like roses, and a magic globe that glows like the moon. And there's Curdie, a miner's boy, who also works in the mines, and one night Irene is out of doors-- no one is supposed to be out and about after dark, for the goblins, who are bitterly angry that humans are mining their precious metals and stones from the earth, are likely to get you. And she hears a whistling coming closer, and it's Curdie-- who as everyone knows is whistling to keep the goblins away because they just hate whistling. In The Princess and Curdie, the companion book, Irene and Curdie grow up, but not before even more magical adventures, with an army of animal-like creatures who were humans in their former lives, featuring Lena, who is somewhat like a panther, but... and who becomes the children's friend. Here, too, are even scarier times in the caverns under the earth with the goblins. May be a bit scary for very young children, especially the second book, but the best books to introduce a true sense of wonder and magic and romance of the deepest kind into any child's life, as well as true friendship, grand adventure, tolerance of the differences between human beings. I read these books maybe 10 times before I had my own children, and read them to my children. Even 20 years after the last reading, they are the first books I looked up the first time I visited this site, and imagine my delight to find that they were, indeed, reprinted-- in the '90s! Can you imagine? Scenes from the books still appear in my mind's eye when I think about them. Make sure you get the complete original versions, and if you're very lucky, you might find copies of the editions I had, with gold leaf decorations and lovely color illustrations tipped onto some of the pages. Also check out George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind and some of his short stories. And after you've read all of these, and are frustrated because he didn't write more books, try the rest of the Oz series-- Tick Tock, the talking flowers, the hobby horse, Jack Pumpkinhead, Ozma of Oz-- immersing one's self in Baum's extended alternative universe will help soothe the pain of having to leave MacDonald's so soon.
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Summary: FOLLOW THE THREADS OF YOUR DESTINY
Review: The PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN proves yet another of MacDonald's fantasy charmers (q.v. AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND), as the novel presents the adventures (psychological as well as physical) of protected Princess Irene (aged 8) and a brave miner boy with the unlikely name of Curdie. The tale involves the schemes of evil goblins who lurk below the earth, who exult to tease and torture the "sun people" as they call humankind. Can a mere youth foil the callous machinations of these subterranrean fiends? Princess Irene meets a mysterious but loving old lady at a spinning wheel (have we heard this somewhere before?), while Curdie proves himself a useful ally to her King-papa. Her faithful but outspoken nurse, Lootie, learns some bitter lessons, as she is almost dismissed by the king and (even worse) by Irene herself. Grown ups must learn to believe what they hear from honest children; children must learn to believe what can not always be seen or what makes scientific sense. Any little girl who sees herself as an unrecognized princess can learn to behave with the grace and dignity of a True Princess. Boys will admire the courage and resourcefulness of the miner's son--the only one in the kingdom to realize what the goblins are plotting. A quaintly spun yarn (with gentle edification for children) for readers of all ages.
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Summary: As the Goblins Lurk
Review: The story the Princess and the Goblin was an exciting epic of adventure and suspense. It started with a small princess named Irene who comes across her long lost grandmother. Her grandmother tells her she is there to protect her from evil goblins that roam the country side late at night. As Irenes life passes by in the castle she becomes to get aquainted with the goblins. Soon, she finds herself in a twisting plot full of trechery and danger. This book was exciting to read and made you feel the need to continue on. I would reccommend this book for many reasons. First of all right from the start the book is full of mystery. For example the author makes you feel the need to read on to discover the characters more. Also the book is crammed packed with action. There are many fights between goblins and humans that lead to a very dramatic conclusion. This book is great for all ages and will be enjoyed by many.
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Summary: Stays in your memory....
Review: There's a magical scene where the princess is bathed in a tub that's so deep, and so cool -- when she looks down, it has no bottom and she sees black sky and stars! Worth it for this scene alone
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Summary: A great fiction story
Review: This book is a wonderful story.I enjoyed it alot because I love goblins and princess.I think anyone would like this book.If you aren't sure if you're going to buy it, just buy it, you won't be sorry.
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Summary: A timeless book
Review: This book is not only beautifully written and perfect for all ages, "The Princess and the Goblin" is also morally strong and uplifting. Children of either sex will be interested in it, with a loving and beautiful grandmother, a strong and intelligent young girl, and a young boy who is intent on protecting his loved ones and uncovering the evil goblin plot. I have read this countless times, and each time I discover something new. The sequel, "The Princess and Curdie," is also worth reading. I love this book!
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