The Gruffalo

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. My former teacher said his children loved the book and, once I'd read it, I could see why. It's a beautifully illustrated tale, demonstrating how brain can overcome brawn, as a small mouse escapes the clutches of various, dangerous woodland animals by threatening them with a huge, hideous and apparently imaginary creature called the Gruffalo, only to then be met by the huge, hideous creature himself (perhaps another moral here i.e. be careful what you wish for, you may get it). So he is then required to exercise his ingenuity once more to escape becoming a tasty Gruffalo dinner. The rhyming verse appealed to the poet in me and, in my opinion, makes the story an ideal one to be read out loud to young children and aquaint them with new vocabulary.