Mar 20, 2024
Aakanksha Sharma
Macmillan-Childrens-Books
The creators
Julia Donaldson’s charming narrative and Axel Scheffler’s captivating illustrations make it a timeless favourite for young readers worldwide.
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The inspiration
According to many sources, the character of Gruffalo was actually taken from Chinese folklore. A Chinese folktale about a fox and a tiger were the inspiration for the mouse and Gruffalo.
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An adaptation
The cinema adaptation of the book ‘The Gruffalo’ was also nominated for several awards for short story and animation categories. The book made headlines again when the movie was nominated for Oscars.
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A lesser known sequel
While ‘The Gruffalo’ became a children’s favourite and a part of school syllabus in many countries, the sequel to the book did not become as famous as the first one. The sequel, titled ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ was released in 2004.
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A lesser known fact
The author, Julia Donaldson once revealed that writing ‘The Gruffalo’ only took her two weeks but the second part took much longer.
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A reading book
While many people prefer reading a book in their mind and not out loud, ‘The Gruffalo’ is one that is meant to be read out loud to small children. It is aimed at children between the ages of 1 to 3 who usually cannot read by themselves.
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A dilemma of looks
While designing the Gruffalo, there were several dilemmas as to how he should look. The initial thoughts were about a huge troll, then came a monster who was shabby and was again changed multiple times.
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The awards
‘The Gruffalo’ has won several awards, including the prestigious Smarties Prize and the Blue Peter Award for Best Book to Read Aloud. Along with that the movie adaptation was nominated for many more awards, including the Oscars and BAFTA.
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Thanks For Reading!
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