<ul> <li>This edition includes the following editor&#39;s introduction:<i> </i><i>Nathaniel Hawthorne and Dark Romanticism</i></li></ul><br />First published in 1851, &quot;A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys&rdquo; is a children&#39;s book by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne in which he retells some legends of Greek mythology. In 1853 &quot;A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys&rdquo; was followed by a sequel, &ldquo;Tanglewood Tales.&rdquo;<br /><br />In 1838, Hawthorne suggested to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that they collaborate on a story for children based on the legend of the <i><b>Pandora&rsquo;s Box</b></i>, but this never materialized. But in 1851, Hawthorne set out deliberately to modernize the stories, freeing them from what he called &ldquo;<i>cold moonshine</i>&rdquo; and using a romantic, readable style that was criticized by adults but proved universally popular with children.<br />The collection is a re-writing of six well-known Greek myths. The tales are &ldquo;<i>The Gorgon&rsquo;s Head</i>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>The Golden Touch</i>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>The Paradise of Children</i>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>The Three Golden Apples</i>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<i>The Miraculous Pitcher</i>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<i>The Chimaera</i>.&rdquo;