A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood

I (and the rest of the family) have a real soft spot for 'The Gruffalo', enforced even more by the recent animated short shown on Christmas Day, 2009.

We really like everything that Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have done together and have bought pretty much all of their collaborative children's stories, but the highlights for me at least are The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and a recent addition - Tabby McTat.

We've read The Gruffalo to the children pretty much for as long as we've read them stories and we can recite the entire story from memory but seeing the animated version has really added an extra element... seeing all the additional story detail that's been added or expanded on to make the film a reasonable length has created a new slant on the story as I've had it in my mind.  For example, I never imagined that the Gruffalo's first 'Amazing' statement could have been sarcastic rather than heartfelt - I know that Julia Donaldson was involved in the screenplay so I wonder if that's the sort of thing she 'brought to the table'.

We've seen the stage version of Room on the Broom but unfortunately missed the Gruffalo play when it came to town.  I'm sure we will be first in the queue for tickets the next time it comes around...  I hope that Julia and Axel's books are readily available in Australia, if not then it will be time to go to the Book Depository.  Check out their 'watch people shop' interactive map!

Andy

P.S. Good luck to Scotland in the Six Nations this year!