“It is nice to talk about the other books.” “You do get a bit sick of talking about The Gruffalo,” Donaldson agrees. Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler It’s not a curse, but it can be a burden.” People are full of awe, and I think I’m just Axel. That’s a sometimes slightly claustrophobic feeling. “It is this idea of never being able to step out of this role, or whatever it is, of the Gruffalo fame, of never being not the illustrator of The Gruffalo until the end of my life. “I don’t mind The Gruffalo being so popular,” Scheffler concedes. So do they feel the equivalent of the curse of Pooh Bear? “I hate even more when people say I hate being asked about the Gruffalo,” she has said. Donaldson has compared herself to the plucky mouse in The Gruffalo forced to confront the larger-than-life manifestation of her own imagination. And while the Gruffalo himself might be instantly recognisable – those tusks, that wart – readers without young children may not know the names of his creators, or the fact that they have written more than 300 other books between them. This year it is the turn of the The Highway Rat (based on the 2011 book), starring a whiskery scoundrel (voiced by David Tennant) who mercilessly robs food from his fellow animals, to be broadcast to the bloated nation.ĪA Milne complained that his life and other work had been eclipsed by his most famous creation, a sentiment shared by JM Barrie.
For the next few years, a Donaldson/Scheffler film was as much a Christmas Day TV fixture as the Queen’s speech. Like his predecessors Pooh and Paddington, the Gruffalo, created in 1999, is a cultural icon in his own right: a megaselling brand including Gruffalo- themed adventures and merchandising from mugs to pants the book has become a West End theatre staple (its offspring The Gruffalo’s Child is this year’s seasonal show at London’s Lyric Hammersmith) and an animated film watched by nearly 10 million people on Christmas Day in 2009. Based on 2016 figures, she retains her crown as the UK’s reigning No 1 author. To think back to the more innocent days of 2014, Donaldson’s book sales beat those of Harry Potter, Fifty Shades of Grey and Dan Brown’s books.
Donaldson was the first author to record UK sales of more than £10m for five consecutive years, making her the fourth bestselling writer in British history. The UK’s bestselling children’s author? JK Rowling, obviously! Wrong. And what a “British product” the Gruffalo – and his picture book dynasty – is.
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