Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Gruffalo

The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child

Rate this book
Retrouvez Gruffalo et Petit Gruffalo dans deux beaux albums tout-carton, aux coins arrondis. L'occasion découvrir, ou redécouvrir, deux classiques de la littérature aux histoires monstrueusement délicieuses !

100 pages, Board Book

First published November 9, 2012

1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read

About the author

Julia Donaldson

1,223 books1,892 followers
Growing up
I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).

Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us. A wind-up gramophone wafted out Chopin waltzes.

I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.

Busking and books
Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.

The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television. I became an expert at writing to order on such subjects as guinea pigs, window-cleaning and horrible smells. “We want a song about throwing crumpled-up wrapping paper into the bin” was a typical request from the BBC.

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.

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.

My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.

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.

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.

When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs. When Malcolm can take time off from the hospital he and his guitar come too. and it feels as if we’ve come full circle - back to busking.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
108 (69%)
4 stars
33 (21%)
3 stars
10 (6%)
2 stars
4 (2%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Sonja Rosa Lisa ♡  .
5,113 reviews637 followers
December 1, 2023
Ich habe die Geschichten vom Grüffelo und dem Grüffelokind als Hörbuch gehört. Es war sehr unterhaltsam und kurzweilig.
Vorgetragen in Reimform hat es mich an meine Schulzeit erinnert. Es geht um eine kleine, ziemlich kluge Maus, die sich mit ihren Geschichten vom Grüffelo aus gefährlichen Situationen retten kann.
Auf dem Hörbuch gibt es zusätzlich zur Geschichte ein Lied, einmal vorgetragen auf deutsch, einmal auf englisch.
Hat mir insgesamt sehr gut gefallen!
Profile Image for Paulien.
232 reviews14 followers
September 3, 2025
Verrassend leuke boekjes en ook ontzettend leuk voorgelezen! Nou ja, het leek meer een toneelspel, ieder personage heeft een eigen stemmetje. Aanrader, ook voor hele grote kinderen 😁
Profile Image for Céline.
498 reviews20 followers
January 23, 2020
Dit boek las ik reeds als fysiek boek, dus ik wist ongeveer hoe het verhaal in elkaar zat. Zelf vind ik het een erg goed boek voor jonge kinderen dus ik wou dit luisterboek zeker eens beluisteren. Dit luisterboek luisterde ik met een 4- en 6-jarige en ik moet zeggen dat ze er erg van onder de indruk waren. Lies Visschedijk heeft een heel gevarieerde stem. Het lijkt alsof ze elke hoogte en laagte aankan , waardoor alle verschillende stemmen erg goed tot zijn recht komen. Ook de liedjes en de verschillende toegevoegde geluidselementen tussendoor zijn in goede aarde gevallen. Zelf vond ik het leuk dat de twee verhalen elkaar opvolgden en zeker het tweede verhaaltje over 'de grote gevaarlijke muis' brengt een zeer mooie boodschap over aan de lezer/luisteraar. Een geslaagd kinderboek dus!
578 reviews1 follower
October 26, 2019
One distinct advantage of working for my particular international school is that it is on the smaller side and that I am one of only three English teachers. For that reason, I am given lots of space to create programs. One program I created was a student-centered English program focused on reading a book a week. For that program to be successful, I knew I needed to provide easy access to great and newly purchased books--so that reading would be appealing and easy to move from one book to the next. In constructing my classroom library, I certainly didn't want to leave out children's books. Great children's books should be read by all ages as they provide a compact package for so many aspects of literature from storytelling to author choices in using powerful words, just the right amount of detail, and literary features to hook the reader. The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child both meet my requirements. This story is not only crafted with suspense and style but it also has another aspect of literature, which I find challenging as an aspiring author myself: humor. Both of these books are hilarious in the way they build up a rumor to keep one little creature in-tact. And not only that, but Julia Donaldson is also a children's song writer, so the books move with a rhythm and rhyme that any child or adult will love. I didn't grow up with these books (I'm too old) but I am happy to have discovered them to share with my daughter. She is the ultimate test (at three years of age), and she loves both--we nearly wore the books out before adding them officially to my classroom library.
5 reviews
September 26, 2016
Beide Geschichten sind einfach wundervoll und genau auf den Geschmack von Kindern abgestimmt.
Dazu sind sie sehr spannend und lehrreich.
Obwohl ich mehrmals am Tag die Geschichten meinen Kindern vorlesen muss, finde ich sie immer noch schön.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.