| Shrek! | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The Book Cover | |||||||
| General Information | |||||||
| Pages | 32 | ||||||
| Genre | Fantasy | ||||||
| Production Information | |||||||
| Published | October 17, 1990 | ||||||
| Author | William Steig | ||||||
| Editor | Unknown | ||||||
| Publisher | Square Fish | ||||||
| |||||||
- You may be looking for Shrek (character) or Shrek (film) .
Shrek! is a children's book written by the late William Steig and published in 1990. The book then spawned the DreamWorks Animation film eleven years later, which spawned a billion dollar movie franchise.
Plot
A troublemaking green ogre named Shrek sets off on a journey to meet an unseemly princess with help from a witch and a talking donkey.
Characters & Differences From The Book
- Shrek: A nasty green ogre who is the main character in the book. He is abandoned by his parents in the beginning. Later on, he meets a witch who tells him about an unsightly princess. He travels all over the place to meet her, getting directions from a talking donkey. Unlike his film counterpart, this version of Shrek can swallow lightning, use laser vision and breathes fire. He also likes to cause trouble, terrorize everyone in sight, and has little to no heroic traits.
- Shrek's Parents: The parents of Shrek. The pink one is Mama Ogre and the amber one is Papa Ogre. They gave birth to Shrek in a "black hole".
- The Witch: She is the witch who informs Shrek about the Ogre Princess and her castle. The witch was supposed to be appear in the first film with the same role, but she got dropped during production.
- Donkey: A talking donkey that helps Shrek throughout his journey. Compared to his film counterpart, Donkey has a much smaller role and is more generic in personality.
- The Princess: She is an unseemly princess who is waiting to meet Shrek. Unlike Fiona, she is a monster princess without any curses or alternate forms.
- The Peasant: Shrek meets him and steals his food.
- Dragon: She appears as the dragon in the woods. Dragon tries to attack Shrek, but he laughs at her and she falls unconscious. In this version, Shrek encounters Dragon before he encounters Donkey and she does not meet him at all.
- The Knight: Shrek meets him at the castle bridge, and he takes him out with his fire breath. The Knight is incompetent and easy to take down, similar to the knights in the films.
- Alligator Pastor: He officiates the wedding of Shrek and the princess at the end.
References to the Book in the Films
While the movies have hardly anything in common with the book (besides Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and Dragon), there are still some subtle references to the source material.
- In a scene from Shrek Forever After, the ogres on the wanted posters are drawn in the style of the original book. In particular, Fiona's poster bears a striking resemblance to Shrek's face on the book's cover.
- An ogre who looks like the original illustration of Shrek can be seen in Fiona's army as a callback.
- Shrek's parents are seen at the beginning of the story, although they have never appeared in any of the films except for the musical and a comic story (both of which adapt the opening in the book where they kick him out). However, Shrek talked about what his father was like when he grew up in a conversation between Shrek and Artie in Shrek the Third.
- A dedication to William Steig, the original author of the book, was seen at the end of Shrek 2, since he died around the time of the film.
- William Steig's son, Jeremy voices the Pied Piper in Shrek Forever After.
Gallery
