Clever little mouse!! (The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson)

Member Name: Cl4ir32

Product:	The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson
Date:	24/08/07 (272 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nice story easy to read

Disadvantages: - - - -

~~~~ The gruffalo ~~~~

The gruffalo was written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. This book has won the Smarties book prize gold award.

~~~~ The Author ~~~~

Julia Donaldson was raised in a victorian house in London. She lived there with her parents, sister, grandmother aunt and uncle. She went to Bristol university to study drama and french and this is where she met her husband. Julia and her husband used to go busking together before they had children and this led to a career in singing and songwriting for kids tv. In 1993 one of her songs, a squash and a squeeze was made into a book and since then she has had other books and plays published. Julia also runs a storytelling workship and performs at book festivals and in theatres. Julia now lives in Glasgow with her husband and their family.

~~~~ The illustrator ~~~~

Axel Scheffler was born in Germany and now lives in London. He is known worldwide for his illustrations of childrens books and has had his books translated into over 20 languages.

~~~~ Other books by Julia and Axel ~~~~

~ The gruffalo's child
~ Monkey puzzle
~ The smartest giant in town
~ Charlie cooks favourite book
~ A squash and a squeeze
~ The snail and the whale
~ Room on the broom

~~~~ The cover ~~~~

'THE GRUFFALO' is written in black letters at the top of the page. There is a picture of the gruffalo stood slightly behind a tree watching a small mouse walk along a path. In the background there is green grass with some small rocks in it and lots of trees.

~~~~ The story ~~~~

This story is written in rhyme which makes it really easy and enjoyable to read and nice to listen to.

The story begins:

'A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.
A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.'

The fox asks the mouse where he is going and invites him back to his house for lunch. The clever little mouse can sense the danger and tells the fox he is very kind but he is on his way to have lunch with a gruffalo. The fox asks the mouse what a gruffalo is as he doesn't know, so the mouse tells him:

'He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws.'

The mouse also tells the fox that the gruffalo's favourite food is roasted fox! Hearing this the fox speeds off, when he is gone the mouse says

'Silly old fox! Doesn't he know,
There's no such thing as a gruffalo?'

The mouse continues through the wood but then he meets an owl who invites him to tea but again the mouse refuses saying he is going to have dinner with a gruffalo. The owl doesn't know what a gruffalo is so the muse tells him:

'He has knobbly knees, and turned out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.'

The mouse also tells him that the gruffalo's favourite food is owl ice cream which makes the owl fly away. Again the mouse says 'There's no such thing as a gruffalo.'

As the mouse is continuing through the wood he meets a snake who invites him for a feast and again the mouse refuses because he is going to meet a 'gruffalo.' When the snake asks what a gruffalo is the mouse tells him:

'His eyes are orange, his tongue is black, he has purple prickles allover his back.'

and

'his favourite food is scrambled snake.'

On hearing this the snake slides away and the mouse calls him silly because there is no such thing as a gruffalo.

So now we are all thinking that this is one clever little mouse making up a scary animal to avoid getting eaten. But this is where the twist comes into the story. As the mouse continues to walk through the woods who should he bump into but the gruffalo! On seeing the mouse the gruffalo says:

'My favourite food!'
'You'll taste good on a slice of bread!'

Now the mouse is about to be eaten and he has to think fast, which he does and tells the gruffalo that he is scariest creature in the wood and if he walks behind him he will see that everyone is affraid of him.

The gruffalo thinks this is funny but luckily for the mouse he agrees and starts to follow the mouse. First they bump into the snake but seeing the mouse and gruffalo he slides away, then they see the owl who flies away then lastly they see the fox who also runs off when he see's the mouse and gruffalo.

The mouse tells the gruffalo again that everyone isscared of him and that his favourite food is gruffalo crumble which makes the gruffalo turn and run!.

At the end of the story the mouse finds a nut and sits quietly on a rock to eat!

~~~~ What I think ~~~~

I would recommend this book as it is a nice story with nice pictures that relate straight to the story. It is really easy and enjoyable to read and my children like to listen to it too.

~~~~ Other info ~~~~

This book was first published in 1999 by Macmillan Children's books.

Macmillan Publishers Limited
20 New harf Road
London
N1 9RR

www.panmacmillan.com

www.gruffalo.com

ISBN 0-333-71093-2

~~~~ Price ~~~~

The RRP for this book is £5.99 which is what I paid.

~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~

Claire x x

Summary: A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.......