‘The Gruffalo': The cult children's classic turns 25

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The Gruffalo sound book. She was cheerily pressing each of the eight sound buttons—featuring the squeak of a mouse, the hiss of a snake, the cackle of the fox, the gruff laughter of the monster—while turning the pages of this classic story by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. The book would go with us everywhere—to playschool, play dates, and restaurants, where the sudden press of the laughter button would startle people at the neighbouring table into spilling soup.

Many books became precious during my daughter’s early childhood, from Judith Kerr’sThe Mog series andThe Tiger Who Came to Tea, to Donaldson’s vibrant other titles such as Zog, The Paper Dolls. However, of these,The Gruffalo, stood out. I associate the book with key memories of my early parenting days.

First published in 1999 by Macmillan, it is a favourite with kids and parents and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Translated into 107 dialects and languages, with 13.5 million copies sold worldwide, it has been interpreted as a stage show and an animated film. Set in the dark woods, it follows a mouse who encounters a fox, an owl and a snake.The courageous little creature foils all their attempts at turning him into a meal by cooking up a story of going to dine with a fictitious frightening monster, the gruffalo.

However, as he ventures deeper into the forest, the mouse is shocked to find that the gruffalo is very much real. Keeping his wits about, he manages to keep not just the predators but also the gruffalo at bay. The rhyming scheme and inherent drama is a hat tip to Donaldson’s training in drama at the University of Bristol and skill as a storyteller.