The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by illustrated by Axel Scheffler, The Gruffalo is one of our favorite books.  With rhythmic text and wonderful pictures the book tells the story of a mouse that outwits the other creatures around him.  He comes up with what he thinks is an imaginary creature and then is rather shocked to actually meet a creature just like the one he had imagined.

Julia Donaldson actually shows the book that she used to write the rough copy of the Gruffalo in a YouTube video titled "Julia Donaldson sings the Gruffalo Song".

Anna and I had a lot of fun with this book, especially when we discovered Julia Donaldson's website and from there discovered The Gruffalo website.  The games and activities section of the Gruffalo's website has links to wonderful, fun resources.  We made the Gruffalo Finger Puppets and used them to act out the story over and over.  We also made the Gruffalo Mask.  There are even links to pdfs that would help in throwing a Gruffalo party, complete with a Gruffalo cake.  That's just a taste of what's available.  Lots of resources to help have lots of fun with this book.

Something interesting that I just discovered, and haven't shown Anna yet, is that there is an online spot where you can see the Gruffalo presented in Sign Language.  You do have to register to see it but it is free.

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson is a fun book you don't want to miss.