The Gruffalo - Overview

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood. A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.  Walk further into the deep dark wood, and discover what happens when the quick-thinking mouse comes face to face with an owl, a snake and a hungry gruffalo.

Editorial Review

Children's Literature - Carolyn Mott Ford

The little mouse fools his enemies with tales of his friend, the gruffalo. What is a gruffalo? When a fox comes along who thinks the mouse looks tasty, a gruffalo is a creature with terrible tusks, claws and jaws whose favorite delicacy is roasted fox. When an owl swoops down because the mouse looks good, a gruffalo is a monster with knobbly knees, turned-out toes and a wart on his nose who loves owl ice cream. When a snake slithers through the wood and wants to feast on the mouse, a gruffalo is a fearsome thing with orange eyes, black tongue and prickles on his back that has an appetite for scrambled snake. The mouse laughs at his enemies for believing there is such a thing as a gruffalo until he himself encounters the huge beast. Indeed, there is such a thing as a gruffalo and now the mouse must be smart enough to fool his biggest enemy! The illustrations are grand, especially the uprooted tree trunk which looks just like a monstrous claw reaching out from the wood.