The Gruffalo, a Kids' Picture Book
Timeless Story by Axel Sheffler & Julia Donaldson Delights Children
This tale of a little brown mouse who outwits a Gruffalo appeals to the imaginations of small children and adults alike.
The Gruffalo, by Axel Sheffler and Julia Donaldson, is a picture book about a little brown mouse with street smarts that allow him to outwit a fox, owl and snake who all want to make him a guest of honor at their lunches. Your children will surely ask to hear this story over and over again, but it is so cleverly written and beautifully illustrated that you won't mind reading it for the 4000th time.
There's No Such Thing as a Gruffalo
The story of the Gruffalo can be broken into two main parts. In the first, the mouse evades a fox, owl and snake by telling them that he is due to have lunch with a Gruffalo, and therefore cannot come to their houses for lunch. When these animals say they have never heard of such an animal, the mouse describes the features of this terrible creature to each of them, making them up as he goes along, and telling each animal that the Gruffalo especially likes to eat foxes, owls or snakes. In this way the small mouse outwits the predators who would have liked to eat him for lunch by inventing the Gruffalo.
In the second part of the book, the mouse actually meets the Gruffalo, who is exactly as the mouse described him, and discovers that the Gruffalo would like to eat him for lunch too. The clever mouse, however, convinces the Gruffalo that he should be the one who is afraid, because the mouse is really the scariest creature in the wood. The mouse tells the Gruffalo to come with him as he retraces his steps through the forest, meeting each predator on the way. As the fox, owl and snake each flee when they see the mouse accompanied by precisely the terrible creature he described to them, the Gruffalo himself becomes afraid of the mouse and decides to flee, leaving the mouse to enjoy his own vegan meal.
Axel Sheffler's Illustrations
The illustrations are simple, colorful and utterly charming. Each of the Gruffalo's features is illustrated individually as the mouse describes them, culminating in a full-page picture of the Gruffalo in all his knobbly-kneed, green-warted glory. Small children will enjoy pointing to each feature as it is described in the book, and it is a great way of identifying body parts for children who are just learning to point to their nose or their knees. The Gruffalo himself is a perfect story-book monster, just gruff enough to be exciting, yet friendly enough to be not too frightening.
The Gruffalo was the best selling children's picture book in the UK in 2000, and has sold more than 3.5 million copies worldwide. Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler have written and illustrated several other books together, including The Gruffalo's Child, a sequel to The Gruffalo, Monkey Puzzle, The Snail and The Whale, A Squash and a Squeeze and Room on the Broom.
