Julia Donaldson is the internationally bestselling author of
many popular books for children. Her Smarties Prize-winning modern
classic, The Gruffalo, has sold more than 13.5 million copies
worldwide, and the Halloween favorite Room on the
Broom is a perennial best seller. In addition to children's
books, she has written many children's plays and songs and runs
regular storytelling workshops. She was the Waterstones Children's
Laureate from 2011-2013.
Axel Scheffler is an award-winning,
internationally-acclaimed illustrator of some of the most
well-loved children’s books, including Julia Donaldson’s
best-selling modern classic The Gruffalo, which has sold
millions of copies worldwide. He lives in London.
"Young readers will love the humor in this preposterous story. . . . Serve this one for a rollicking good time." - "School Library Journal"
The eponymous character introduced by this British team owes a large debt to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. When Mouse meets Fox in the "deep dark wood," he invents a story about the gruffalo, described very much like Sendak's fearsome quartet of wild thingsÄ"He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws." The gullible fox runs away when Mouse tells him that the gruffalo's favorite food is roasted fox. "Silly old Fox!" says Mouse, "Doesn't he know?/ There's no such thing as a gruffalo!" Owl and Snake follow suit until, with a turn of the page, Mouse runs into the creature he has imagined. Quick-thinking Mouse then tells the monster, "I'm the scariest creature in this deep dark wood./ Just walk behind me and soon you'll see,/ Everyone for miles is afraid of me." Fox, Owl and Snake appear to be terrified of the tiny mouse, but readers can plainly see the real object of their fears. By story's end, the gruffalo flees, and Mouse enjoys his nut lunch in peace. Despite the derivative plot line, debut author Donaldson manipulates the repetitive language and rhymes to good advantage, supplying her story with plenty of scary-but-not-too-scary moments. Scheffler's gruffalo may seem a goofy hybrid of Max's wild things, but his cartoonlike illustrations build suspense via spot-art previews of the monster's orange eyes, black tongue and purple prickles until the monster's appearance in full. Ages 4-8. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
"Young readers will love the humor in this preposterous story. . . . Serve this one for a rollicking good time." - "School Library Journal"
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