The Gruffalo Sound Book

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Sadly I'm not much of a fan of this one. Don't get me wrong, it's cute, but it's so much of a rehash of the first book (just with a baby Gruffalo) that it feels repetitive and slightly unnecessary. It begins with a simple idea, of a little brown mouse taking a walk in a “deep dark wood”. We see a lovely illustration of the deep dark wood before the story begins … and the small child I read it to thought he might just be able to spy something sinister behind the trees, although he didn’t know the story at all … So we begin: But I was 15 when The Gruffalo was published... listening to Rage Against The Machine and lamenting the over-commercialised tat we peddle to our children... To my teenage self, The Gruffalo was just another hook to get parents buying their kids more crap: a symbol of a broken system. Obviously, I never read it - but I was aware there was a TV adaptation made (with much fanfare) and a sequel book, etc. Walk into the deep dark wood with Mouse in this t his amazing pop-up carousel book , and discover what happens when he comes face to face with a fox, an owl, a snake . . . and a hung... Read more

One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. With this 15th Anniversary Edition you can be assured the Gruffalo will delight yet another generation of children.

Join the Gruffalo's Child for a BIG adventure in this clever sequel to much-loved modern classic, The Gruffalo, from the unparalleled picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Axel ... Read more I actually prefer this story to the original as I feel that young children can realate to the Gruffalo's daughter. I read The Gruffalo to the Nursery class yesterday and only a handful could tell me why the snake, fox, and owl are scared of the mouse because he was walking with the Gruffalo. However, all but two could tell me that the Big Bad Mouse was only a shadow, and that the Gruffalo's Child shouldn't be scared. Calling all nature explorers! Grab your wellies and learn all about the natural world around you with this colourful spotter guide. In the sequel to The Gruffalo, in her The Gruffalo's Child, author Julia Donaldson again presents a fun and engaging poetical text (equally magically graced by Axel Scheffler's accompanying artwork, pictures that are imaginative, expressive and indeed totally mirror and compliment Julia Donaldson's verses, art that is rich, expressive, colourful and beautifully representative and evocative of the forest at night, and something that of course also and simultaneously is occurring with and in Julia Donaldson's featured poetry). And therefore, The Gruffalo's Child absolutely and utterly represents to and for me a sweetly magical and enchantingly entertaining combination of the author's written words, of Julia Donaldson's expressive verses and Axel Scheffler's equally delightful accompanying illustrations. Read by Imelda Staunton, The Gruffalo's Child is the number one bestselling, much-loved sequel to the worldwide phenomenon that is The Gruffalo. This audiobook edition also include... Read more

Push, pull and slide the moving mechanisms to meet all your favourite characters from the deep dark wood in this brilliant board book based on the bestselling classic picture book, The Gruffa... Read more Funnily enough, I find it harder to write not in verse, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it! My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. I have just finished writing a novel for teenagers. I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books. The book is about 700 words long, and much of its charm also lies in the illustrations by Axel Scheffler. Once you’ve read it, it is impossible to imagine the gruffalo as anything else, but in fact he might have looked very different. “Our” monster is scary in a cute, dim-witted sort of way, but apparently Axel Scheffler’s first designs were of a monster who was far more frightening than the one we know. He also wondered about making the animals wear clothes, but in the end decided against it. We might also have felt as apprehensive and scared as the animals who want to eat the mouse. We learn for instance, that the gruffalo’s favourite foods are “owl ice cream”, and “scrambled snake”. But in fact we don’t feel frightened, and we don’t even believe him! My little friend was giggling as much as I was, because:

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I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. An ancient twist on the award-winning story of The Gruffalo , in which a clever little mouse outwits the creatures of the deep dark wood, is the perfect picture book, loved b... Read more We all enjoyed playing with the wrap around scene, acting out the story and also making up our own stories with the animals.