THE GRUFFALO
We are going to be working on a fantastic children's story called The Gruffalo.
About 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, the protagonist of the book, taking a
walk in a European forest. The book has sold over 13 million copies,[1] has won several prizes for children's literature, and has been developed into plays on both the West End and Broadway.
The Gruffalo was initially published in 1999 in the United Kingdom by Macmillan Children's Books (ISBN 0-333-71093-2)
as a 32-page hardback edition, was followed six months later by a
paperback edition, and subsequently by a small-format board book
edition. It was penned for readers aged three to seven, and is about 700
words long. It is written in rhyming couplets, featuring repetitive
verse with minor variance.
Plot:
The story of a mouse's walk through the woods unfolds in two phases;
in both, the mouse uses clever tricks to evade danger. On his way the
mouse encounters several dangerous animals (a fox, an owl, and a snake).
Each of these animals, clearly intending to eat the mouse, invites him
back to their home for a meal. The cunning mouse declines each offer. To
dissuade further advances, he tells each animal that he has plans to
dine with his friend, a gruffalo, a monster-like hybrid
that is half grizzly bear and half buffalo, whose favourite food
happens to be the relevant animal, and describes the features of the
gruffalo's monstrous anatomy. Frightened that the gruffalo might eat it, each animal flees. Knowing the gruffalo to be fictional, the mouse gloats thus:
- Silly old fox/owl/snake, doesn't he know?
- there's no such thing as a gruffalo!
After getting rid of the last animal, the mouse is shocked to encounter a real
gruffalo – with all the frightening features the mouse thought that he
was inventing. The gruffalo threatens to eat the mouse, but again the
mouse is cunning: he tells the gruffalo that he, the mouse, is the
scariest animal in the forest. Laughing, the gruffalo agrees to follow
the mouse as he demonstrates how feared he is. The two walk through the
forest, encountering in turn the animals that had earlier menaced the
mouse. Each is terrified by the sight of the pair and runs off – and
each time the gruffalo becomes more impressed with the mouse's apparent
toughness. Exploiting this, the mouse threatens to eat the gruffalo,
which flees.
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