We have got the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo's Child books since 2 years back, their uncle residing in overseas got them as Christmas gifts. I did not thought about writing a review as I thought the Gruffalo is so popular that it needs no introduction, most children shall have read it, or watched it as it has its own TV show and theater performance.
But, having been reading these 2 books over and over again for the past 1 week (see note below), and I thoroughly enjoy reading these books with them. I personally find they are the best read aloud picture book that I have came across so far!
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| The Gruffalo Story by Julia Donaldson. Illustration by Axel Scherffler |
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| The Gruffalo's Child Story by Julia Donaldson. Illustration by Axel Scherffler |
What do WE like about the Gruffalo?
• The story rhyme. How lovely they rhyme and my kids loved it whenever I read text like scrambled snake, Gruffalo crumbs in a spooky tone, they always giggle and nowadays they read along. For example, the opening paragraph goes like this..
"The mouse room a stroll in the deep dark wood,
A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good."
• The story is smart & wicked (in a fun way). It's about how a small little mouse managed to leverage on others' strength to escape being eaten by the many predators it met. He cleverly used the Graffulo to scare off the fox, the owl and the snake and at the same time making the Graffulo think these predators are actually scared of him, the Big Bad Mouse.
Little kids can certainly relate themselves to the little mouse (small & tiny compared to others) but they don't necessarily have to be weak & be bullied, not if they think smart. While many children books teach about mannerism and general knowledge,this is really about adaptive problem solving, in my humble opinion.
Who would have guess an humongous monster would be scared of a tiny mouse that it could easily crushed with a single step? ;)
• Beautiful illustration. All 32 pages are graphically illustrated with great details, i especially love the full 2 page of the deep dark wood, with butterflies, ants, mushrooms, squirrels, fallen trunk, pine cones... Reminded me of our peaceful walk in the NZ's wood.
Even my girl loves the prints.
If your child or nephew or niece or grandchild is between 3 to 7 and enjoys reading, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND getting this book for him or her. Beginner reader may think it is too wordy at first (totally fine with more advanced readers), but read aloud to them and you may see the interest shift eventually. If they like the first Graffalo book, then most certainly they will enjoy reading the second book, the Gruffalo's Child too.
If you are really interested to find out more or get some Gruffalo's merchandiser DVDs, you may want to visit the Gruffalo's official site here!
E reading to his little sister..
Note:
I have been practising a Book Week with the duo as we all love books. Every week we will pick 3-5 books to be covered for that week's bedtime story, I find that this way allows the stories to leave a stronger impression in their mind & also keep them excited when there is a new rotation. I usually purchase the books in bulk so we habe quite a number of books available for rotation. :)
Where to buy?
Read the review or purchase direct here:
Read the review or purchase direct here:
- Scholastic
- Amazon (they have good discount for paperbag version!)
Reference:
Pictures included here are abstracted a from the following sites:
- the Guardian UK, they have an article on Julia Donaldson
-the Scholastic
- the Guardian UK, they have an article on Julia Donaldson
-the Scholastic
Stay Calm
&
Read On
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