| The Gruffalo | |
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First edition cover |
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| Author(s) | Julia Donaldson |
| Illustrator | Axel Scheffler |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's fantasy |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Publication date | 23 March 1999 |
| Pages | 32 |
| ISBN | 0-333-71093-2 |
| OCLC Number | 59379845 |
| Followed by | The Gruffalo's Child |
The Gruffalo is a children's book by writer and playwright Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, that tells the story of a mouse's walk in the woods. The book has sold over 10.5 million copies, has won several prizes for children's literature, and has been developed into plays on both the West End and Broadway.
The Gruffalo was initially published in 1999 in the United Kingdom by Macmillan Children's Books (ISBN 0-333-71093-2) as a 32-page hardback edition, was followed six months later by a paperback edition, and subsequently by a small-format board book edition. It was penned for readers aged three to seven, and is about 700 words long. It is written in rhyming couplets, featuring repetitive verse with minor variance.
Contents |
The protagonist of The Gruffalo is a mouse. The story of the mouse's walk through the woods unfolds in two phases; in both, the mouse uses cunning to evade danger.
On his way the mouse encounters several dangerous animals (a fox, an owl, and a snake). Each of these animals, clearly intending to eat the mouse, invites him back to their home for a meal. The cunning mouse declines each offer. To dissuade further advances, he tells each animal that he has plans to dine with his friend, a gruffalo, whose favourite food happens to be the relevant animal, and describes the features of the gruffalo's monstrous anatomy. Frightened that the gruffalo might eat it, each animal flees. Knowing the gruffalo to be fictional, the mouse gloats thus:
After being quit of the last animal, the mouse is shocked to encounter a real gruffalo – with all the frightening features the mouse thought that he was inventing. The gruffalo threatens to eat the mouse, but again the mouse is cunning: he tells the gruffalo that he, the mouse, is the scariest animal in the forest. Laughing, the gruffalo agrees to follow the mouse as he demonstrates how feared he is. The two walk through the forest, encountering in turn the animals that had earlier menaced the mouse. Each is terrified by the sight of the pair and runs off – and each time the gruffalo becomes more impressed with the mouse's apparent toughness. Exploiting this, the mouse threatens to eat the gruffalo, which flees.
The story is based on a traditional Chinese folk tale of a fox that borrows the terror of a tiger. Donaldson was unable to think of rhymes for "tiger" so invented one for "know" instead.[1]
The Gruffalo won the gold award (in the 0–5 years category) of the 1999 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. It was the UK's best-selling picture book of 2000, won the 2000 Nottingham/Experian Children's Book award, and the Blue Peter Best Book To Read Aloud award. The audio version won the Best Children's Audio award in the Spoken Book Awards.[2] In November 2009 the book was voted "best bedtime story" by listeners of BBC Radio 2.[3] In a 2010 survey by UK charity Booktime, the book came first in a list of children's favourite books.[4]
The Gruffalo has sold over 3.5 million copies in 31 editions worldwide. Translations include Irish, Scottish Gaelic, French (Gruffalo), Estonian (Grühvel), German (Der Grüffelo), Lithuanian (Grufas), Italian (A spasso col mostro), Polish, Russian, Slovene (Zverjasec), Spanish (El Grúfalo), Hebrew (Trofoti), Dutch (De Gruffalo), and Turkish (Tostoraman).[5]
The book was initially sold as a small (roughly A5) board book, and later as a larger (roughly A4) paperback version. An audio book version, narrated by Imelda Staunton, was released in 2002, and a jigsaw book version (ISBN 1-4050-3496-3) was published in 2004. The book is also sold packaged with a gruffalo soft toy. At some point in the print run of the hardcover paper page book, the dialogue was subtly changed. There are two different ISBN numbers for the book. However, the older ISBN number that relates to the original text is no longer available.
The "Gruffalo song" was released with the audiobook, as a standalone CD single, and on a musical CD with other songs from Donaldson's books.
Donaldson and Scheffler's sequel, 2004's The Gruffalo's Child (which tells the story of the gruffalo's child, warned by its parent of the terrifying mouse) won the "Best Children's Book" award in the 2005 British Book Awards.
A ridable wheeled Gruffalo children's suitcase is manufactured for Trunki; the case had been featured as a pitch idea on the entrepreneur game show Dragons' Den and rejected by the show's judges.
Donaldson and Scheffler have collaborated on many other titles; some feature cameos from the Gruffalo in other guises, including as Christmas tree decoration in Stick Man and a drawing by a child in The Snail and the Whale.
The book has been adapted into a 30-minute animated film,[6] which was broadcast on BBC One in the UK on 25 December 2009.[7] This new version features Robbie Coltrane in the title role and James Corden as the mouse as well as Helena Bonham Carter as the mother squirrel narrator and Rob Brydon as the Snake.[8] The production was animated at the award winning Studio Soi[9] in Germany and produced through Magic Light Pictures.[10] The film also has the voices of John Hurt as the Owl and Tom Wilkinson as the Fox. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Film (Animated) on 25 January 2011. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA in 2010.[11]
The Gruffalo has been adapted for the stage by Tall Stories theatre company. The production has visited the West End for the last five years, including a staging at the Lyric Theatre, London Christmas 2011. The Tall Stories Production has also toured the UK and internationally, including performances at Sydney Opera House in September 2011.
The book appears in the Doctor Who series 5 episode "The Hungry Earth": Mo reads it to his son, then later by himself before the "strange event" happens.
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