:The Gruffalo's Child
{{short description|Book by Julia Donaldson}}
{{for|the animated film adaptation|The Gruffalo's Child (film)}}
{{Infobox book |
| name = The Gruffalo's Child
| image = TheGruffalosChild.jpg
| image_size = 200px
| caption = First edition cover.
| author = Julia Donaldson
| illustrator = Axel Scheffler
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Children's
| publisher = Macmillan
| pub_date = 3 September 2004
| pages = 32
| isbn = 978-1-4050-2045-9
| oclc= 56537100
| preceded_by = The Gruffalo
}}The Gruffalo's Child is a British children's picture book by writer and playwright Julia Donaldson, and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It is the bestselling sequel to The Gruffalo{{cite news |title=The Gruffalo's Child |url=https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/t/the-gruffalos-child/ |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=BookTrust}}{{cite news |title=BookScan bestsellers: Sales by volume in 2004: TOP 15 CHILDREN'S HARDBACKS |work=The Bookseller |date=March 18, 2005|via=Literary Reference Center Plus}} and won the 2005 National Book Awards Children's Book of the Year.{{cite news |last1=Sharp |first1=Rob |title=Gruffalo, the monster we all love |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/nov/26/books.booksnews |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=The Observer |date=26 November 2006}}{{cite news |last1=Pauli |first1=Michelle |title=Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson is new children's laureate |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jun/07/gruffalo-julia-donaldson-new-children-s-laureate |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=7 June 2011}} The book has been adapted into theatrical productions since 2005 and was adapted into the 2011 animated film The Gruffalo's Child.
Plot
The story is about the Gruffalo's daughter who, despite her father's warning, sets off into the deep dark wood to find the "big bad mouse", the only thing her father is afraid of. The Gruffalo can not remember what he looks like and describes him as a monster.
During her winter journey, she encounters the tracks of the snake, the owl, and the fox from the previous story, each of whom she first suspects to be the "big bad mouse", but who in turn tell her where she can find the real "big bad mouse". Eventually, concluding she has been tricked by the animals (and perhaps her father), she sadly decides that she "doesn't believe in the 'big bad mouse".
At this point, she encounters the little mouse from The Gruffalo, who previously tricked her father and whom her father and the animals were talking about. When she threatens to eat him, he cunningly invites her to meet the "big bad mouse", which he re-creates by using moonlight to project a tremendously enlarged and fearsome shadow to scare her away. Believing the shadow to belong to the real "big bad mouse", the Gruffalo's child flees and returns to the Gruffalo cave with faith in her father restored.
The story repeats the "brains over brawn" theme, the creatures, and the easily flowing rhyme scheme (tetrameter) of its predecessor, The Gruffalo.
Background
The mouse's shadow appearing enlarged is not something that would occur in the real world; Axel Scheffler has described this as "the greatest challenge" while illustrating, and comments, "Somehow it looks real in the book - even though it defies all the laws of physics!"{{cite web |last1=Scheffler |first1=Axel |title=The Gruffalo's child |url=https://axelscheffler.com/books-with-julia-donaldson/the-gruffalos-child |website=Axel Scheffler |access-date=24 December 2020}}{{cite news |last1=Donaldson |first1=Julia |last2=Scheffler |first2=Axel |title=Gruffalos and goats: Axel Scheffler's sketchbook – in pictures |url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/gallery/2016/apr/29/axel-scheffler-sketchbook-julia-donaldson-gruffalo |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=29 April 2016}}
Reception
According to BookTrust, the book "has all the charm of the original: a witty, rhyming text, enchanting illustrations and a neat reversal of the original plot." According to a review in The Horn Book Magazine, "Scheffler's humorous, cartoonlike illustrations, which depict the Gruffalo and his child as more teddy-bear-like than monstrous, work well with Donaldson’s pleasingly repetitive text in rhyme to create a story that, like its small hero, is clever rather than truly scary."{{cite journal |last1=Brabander |first1=Jennifer M. |title=Julia Donaldson The Gruffalo's Child; illus. by Axel Scheffler |journal=The Horn Book Magazine |date=January 1, 2005 |volume=81 |issue=1 |page=75-76 |issn=0018-5078|via=Literary Reference Center Plus}} A Publishers Weekly review includes, "Scheffler's amiable depiction of the baby gruffalo in "the deep dark wood" builds up plenty of empathy for the galumphing youngster, who finally meets the mouse hero of the first Gruffalo tale."{{cite news |title=THE GRUFFALO'S CHILD by Julia Donaldson |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780803730090 |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=December 13, 2004}} A review in School Library Journal states, "While children may appreciate the details (the stick doll, snake tracks in the snow, gruffalo child's cave drawings) in the art, lack of change from picture to picture and in perspective diminish its effectiveness."{{cite journal |last1=Loch-Wouters |first1=Marge |title=The Gruffalo's Child |journal=School Library Journal |date=March 2005 |volume=51 |issue=3|via=Literary Reference Center Plus}}
Adaptations
The book was adapted for the stage in 2005, and has toured around the United Kingdom since then.{{cite news |last1=Dowell |first1=Ben |title=The Gruffalo's Child review: Julia Donaldson's magical story is brought to life |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/going-out/the-gruffalos-child-review-julia-donaldsons-magical-story-is-brought-to-life/ |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=Radio Times |date=27 November 2017}}{{cite news |last1=Hood |first1=Alun |title=Review: The Gruffalo's Child (Alexandra Palace Theatre) |url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/review-the-gruffalos-child-alexandra-palace-theatre_52960/ |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=WhatsOnStage.com |date=7 December 2020}}
The book was also adapted into the 2011 animated film The Gruffalo's Child.{{cite news |last1=Ashby |first1=Emily |title=The Gruffalo's Child Movie Review |url=https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-gruffalos-child |access-date=26 December 2023 |work=Common Sense Media |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/feb/17/booksforchildrenandteenagers-childrens-books-7-and-under What can you do when the Gruffalo's child becomes a role model?] (Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian, 17 February 2014)
{{The Gruffalo}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruffalo's Child, The}}
Category:2004 children's books
Category:British children's books
Category:British picture books
Category:Children's books adapted into films
Category:Children's books about monsters
Category:Children's books set in forests
Category:Donaldson and Scheffler
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