The Gruffalo Board book – Illustrated, 27 Jan. 2005

My daughter absolutely loves this book. The story is fun and engaging, and the illustrations are brilliant. We’ve read it so many times already. It’s definitely become a bedtime favourite. We love how all the pages are hard back so she can not rip any of them out!

My grandsons favourite book and I love reading it to him. It’s paper, not card so not that durable but that’s ok. The story is lovely and the illustrations are great. Great value

An absolute classic and must have for any child.Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler books are works of art. The stories are written beautifully, rhyming with a rhythm that sets the pace. This ensures that as an adult I do not get bored reading the same stories over and over again as the more familiar the story becomes the more I can work on my expression and how I deliver giving me almost as joyful an experience as that of my son listening to them. I feel excited when he brings me a book and then we can have a short bonding session over the story before he goes off to play again. The books describe simple everyday scenes and experiences that a child might encounter helping them make sense of the world around them, mixed with magical characters like dragons, witches, Santa etc.Alex Schefflers artwork is beautiful complements the stories perfectly. The same characters often pop up in different books, whether it be the Gruffalo Child’s stick man in his own story or simply a squirrel and a frog. This helps my son who is fifteen months old develop his own narrative. He does not understand the words I am reading but gets plenty from the rhythm and my intonation whilst building his own story and understanding from the pictures, he is always pointing different characters out to me or finding them when I ask where they are. He loves books and I think that these books enhance a joy of reading and learning. He brings the books to me time and time again.This particular story has a fantastic rhythm as the mouse ventures deeper into the deep dark wood. My son doesn't yet understand the words but with the pictures and the rhythm of the story combined with my expression and repitition, his understanding and enjoyment grows. I cannot imagine ever getting tired of reading this book to him.

The media could not be loaded. This is obviously one of, if not the most popular children’s story of Julia Donaldson’s. I think this was the only title of hers that I had heard of before having our daughter, and one of the first that we bought after her arrival. It’s clear why this one is so popular. Everything about it just works so well, from the length, to the rhyming structure, to the illustrations and the wittiness of the story, which verges on feeling very Aesops Fable-esque. Me and my daughter love the detailed drawings, set in a wonderful rich woodland, and although at first she was scared of the gruffalo, she has since become familiar with his bumbly, not-so-bad monster appearance.She has also grown up having this story read to her, and all the characters are now familiar friends (which I should point out she enjoyed seeing in the sequel).Sometimes things are popular without good reason, but trust me, this one deserves to be, and really does belong on every child’s bookshelf!!On a final note, like all the board book verions of her stories, this one is very sturdy, feels weighty, with very little damage to show for how much use it’s seen.

My kids absolutely adore these books and they are great when they start out reading themselves as well

Love this hardback book, I read it to my 6 month old every evening.

This is no the first Gruffalo I have purchased, but this was a hardback version I purchased as a gift for my friends baby that my son picked. My 6 year old son has loved this story since he was a baby. Julia Donaldson really excellent storybooks and so many are relate able to other stories she has done. For those who don't know "a mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood" along his travels a fox, owl and snake see him and thinks he looks good. To distract his predators he tells them about a creature, The Gruffalo, and describes its physical appearance. He walks away reassuring himself that the Gruffalo doesn't exist, but ends up bumping into him. The Gruffalo wants to eat him, but the mouse convinces him to follow him so he can show him hes "the scariest creature in this wood". He goes back to the snake, owl and fox and each of them run away when they see the mouse with the gruffalo. The mouse convinces the gruffalo hes feared by all and the gruffalo runs away. I have read the book so many times that I could tell the story from start to finish without the book. It has also been made into a film and is often done in pantos. There is a follow up book - The Gruffalos Child which is very similar with the same characters - the Gruffalos Child goes looking for the big bad mouse. This is also a worthy book of a child's bookshelf and is great. If you don't have the gruffalo and are looking for a great childrens story - Julia Donaldson - buy them all shes a brilliant writer and the Gruffalo to me is the best of the lot.