21 Facts About The Gruffalo

The Gruffalo is a British children's picture book by author Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

The Gruffalo was first published in 1999 in the United Kingdom by Macmillan Children's Books.

In 2004, The Gruffalo was followed by a sequel—The Gruffalo's Child— written by Donaldson and illustrated by Scheffler.

The Gruffalo believes that they are actually scared of the mouse.

The Gruffalo is an example of a trickster story—a genre which has examples in traditions including West African folklore, Native American stories, Russian fairy tales, and Bornean folk tales.

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From an evolutionary perspective, they say that The Gruffalo is about the methods of deception used by prey against their predators, such as when caterpillars inflate themselves to resemble a snake.

Donaldson has said that the story of The Gruffalo was inspired by a Chinese folk tale known as "The Fox that Borrows the Terror of a Tiger" .

Taiwanese translator of The Gruffalo recommended the book for publication in Taiwanese because he noticed the story bore resemblance to the traditional tale.

The Gruffalo is a short children's story around 700 words long.

The Gruffalo mainly uses concrete nouns rather than abstract nouns.

In early sketches for the book, the Gruffalo was depicted as being humanoid, troll-like, and wearing a T-shirt and trousers.

The book's editor, Alison Green, said that they instead decided that the Gruffalo would look more like a woodland creature and predator, and Donaldson said the resulting illustration is "more natural looking".

The Gruffalo was published by Macmillan in 1999—a year after its completion.

The "The Gruffalo song" was released with the audiobook on a musical CD with other songs from Donaldson's books.

The character of the Gruffalo occasionally appears in other books by Donaldson and Scheffler.

The Gruffalo has been adapted for the stage by Tall Stories theatre company, premiering in 2001.

The Gruffalo has been adapted for the stage by Dutch theatre company Meneer Monster.

Range of official The Gruffalo merchandise includes clothing, accessories, games, and soft toys.

In 2017, Chessington World of Adventures opened The Gruffalo River Ride Adventure after securing a licensing deal with the studio Magic Light Pictures, which created The Gruffalo film.

Sterling silver, gold, and UK 50p commemorative coins featuring "The Gruffalo" were issued in 2019 to mark the 20th anniversary of the book's publication.

The Gruffalo won the Nestle Smarties Book Prize and Blue Peter Book Award's Best Book to Read Aloud.