The Gruffalo: award-winning child book

I like The Gruffallo by Julia Donaldson. It's easy to read.

Before you say "duh", think about this.

Have you ever stumbled over the words when reading to your child? Is it that you are a lousy reader? Could be :-). But some books do that to you. (Can you imagine what they do to your child?) The sentences are choppy, or, are way too long, or, are just not built to roll off the tongue:-).

Not with The Gruffalo. I got it right the first time everytime . I think it's simply because the author uses the best techniques for writing children's books. For instance, altough it's a story, it's written like a poem. Once you catch the rhythm in the first four or so lines, the rest is easy- like breathing.

Another thing I liked about this award winning child book is how well the writer paints the gruffalo with words - if there were no pictures I'd still be able to visualize him.

And what a fine job Axel Schefler does of illustrating the gruffalo!

Funny, the gruffalo isn't the hero, although the book is named after him.

The hero is actually a very clever little mouse who stays alive even though so many animals want him for dinner.

That's cool. I want my daughter to learn survival skills.