Book Review – The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child

These books were my son’s favorite books when he was 5 year old (that was the age when I bought them for him. I’m sure he would have loved them earlier as well if only I had known about them earlier). Truth be told, not just him, but I also loved reading these books!

Seeing his incredible attachment to these books, I gifted them to a few of his friends as well. Needless to say, these books soon became their favorite books too.

While my son had read other books before, but The Gruffalo was the first book which he enjoyed so much that he asked me for more books of ‘The Gruffalo’ and read them eagerly as soon as I bought them. He had never asked me to buy a book for him before this. In a way, I believe, reading this book was a turning point for him – introducing him to the wonderful world of reading – and was the first step into making him the voracious reader that he is today.

The Gruffalo

Author: Julia Donaldson

Illustrations: Axel Scheffler

Age range: 3-6 years

This story is about a mouse who takes a stroll in the woods. He meets a fox, an owl and a snake. All these animals want to eat him. To escape from them, the mouse tells them about a Gruffalo (a creature of his own imagination, or so it seems) who is a dangerous animal and, as per the mouse, a friend of his. Does the mouse manage to save his life or do the animals see through his imaginary tale?

The Gruffalo’s Child

It is a sequel to The Gruffalo. In this we see the adorable Gruffalo’s child who goes into the woods in search of the Big Bad Mouse. She meets the owl, the fox and the snake – and finds that they all are afraid of the Big Bad Mouse. She finally meets a small mouse but before she can eat him, she sees a huge shadow. Could the Big Bad Mouse be real?

The books are written in rhyming sentences, which make them fun and easy for children to read or listen to. The illustrations are amazing and give a complete visual understanding of what is happening in the story.

They serve as great read aloud books for 3-4 year olds and wonderful books to read on their own for 4-6year olds (depending on the child’s reading skill).

Apart from the wonderful story, they also teach important life lessons of staying calm even under pressure and using your creativity to escape from seemingly difficult situations.

To complement the reading, there are also short 30minute movies on these books which I am sure your child will enjoy.

Other books by Julia Donaldson are also great fun like Room on the Broom, Tyrannosaurus Drip, Paper Dolls, Giant in Town. The books are a little expensive but the quality of the book and the value that your child will get makes it worth every penny.

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