The Gruffalos Child [Board book]

PreSchool-Grade 2–In this sequel to The Gruffalo (Dial, 1999), the wide-eyed daughter of that story's title character decides to find the "Big Bad Mouse" that her father has told her so much about. "His eyes are like pools of terrible fire,/and his terrible whiskers are tougher than wire." With her stick doll tucked under her arm, the youngster enters the deep, dark woods and follows marks in the snow to snake, owl, and fox. When she finally finds a little mouse, she grabs him for a feast, but the clever creature tricks her into running away to the comfort of her sleeping father's arms. The full-color cartoons portray a suitably sympathetic child in the snow-filled woods. While children may appreciate the details (the stick doll, snake tracks in the snow, gruffalo child's cave drawings) in the art, lack of change from picture to picture and in perspective diminish its effectiveness. The plot, rhymes, and art are all slightly weaker than the original tale. Purchase this where the first book is popular.–Marge Loch-Wouters, Menasha's Public Library, WI --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Julia Donaldson is one of the UK’s best-loved and most successful authors of children’s books. In addition to the Smarties Gold Award-winning THE GRUFFALO (978 0 333 71093 7), she has also collaborated with Axel Scheffler on THE SMARTEST GIANT IN TOWN (978 0 333 96396 8), THE SNAIL AND THE WHALE (978 0 333 98224 2) and CHARLIE COOK’S FAVOURITE BOOK (978 1 405 03470 8). Julia is also much in demand for her brilliant events for children.