Shrek!

By William Steig,

Book cover of Shrek!

Book description

Read the book that inspired the famous film franchise in this wonderfully funny picture book.

Before Shrek made it big on the silver screen, there was William Steig's SHREK!, a book about an ordinary ogre who leaves his swampy childhood home to go out and see the world. Ordinary, that…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Shrek! as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Shrek! was a book before it was ever a wildly successful film franchise, but the book bears almost no resemblance to the movies.

Yes, William Steig’s ogre is both vile and reviled, and he has a donkey for a friend, but the story itself is very straightforward, detailing Shrek’s rampage across the countryside on his way to meet a “stunningly ugly princess” with whom he can live “horribly ever after.”

Steig had been a celebrated New Yorker cartoonist for almost four decades when he produced his first children’s book in 1968. He wrote and drew Shrek! when he was…

Want books like Shrek!?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Shrek!.

Browse books like Shrek!

Book cover of Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems & Drawings
Book cover of Harold's Fairy Tale
Book cover of There's No Such Thing as a Dragon

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in monsters, romantic love, and magic-supernatural?

Monsters 170 books
Romantic Love 943 books
Magic-Supernatural 660 books