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SUMMARY: Today’s episode is actually the response to the most frequently asked question I’ve received since I started this podcast: “What is your favorite children’s book?” In this episode, I explain just why Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Gruffalo is brilliant, engaging, brain-building and deserves a place at the top of your list, too.
Listen to the Podcast Episode:
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
The Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Stickman by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Zog by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Zog and the Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Charlie Cook’s Favorite Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
The Smeds and the Smoos by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
Gruffalo Toys and Activities Mentioned in this Episode:
Gruffalo Stuffed Animals:
Halloween 2019
Podcast Transcript:
Hello Everybody! Today’s a little bit of a different episode because it’s actually the response to the most frequently asked question I’ve received since I started this podcast and, well, really since I started graduate school in 2007. It will probably come as no surprise to you, but the question that I get asked most often when people find out that I have my Ph.D. in children’s literature and now have a podcast devoted to the subject is, “What is your favorite children’s book?” Now, when I get asked this question, my first thought is, “HOW can you ask me to choose ONE, you heartless MONSTER?!” I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not “Hallows or Horcruxes,” but obviously they don’t understand the mental and emotional anguish that comes with having to choose just one book from among the hundreds that I’ve read and love. (You other book lovers or recovering academics out there know what I’m talking about.) So I do what any booklover would do and I always try to cheat by qualifying my answer and making arbitrary categories. But “normal” people—otherwise known as “sane” people—at, for example, your husband’s office happy hour might not want to hear which is your favorite children’s book that has an owl as its protagonist, and then which is your favorite children’s book that takes place in the forest, and then which is your favorite children’s bedtime book, and then which is your favorite children’s book for summer, and then which is your favorite children’s book that features a family of badgers, etc., etc., etc. (Hence one of the reasons I started this podcast because it’s like one big apology to the books that I have to leave out. Well… it’s an apology to the books that deserve an apology. Or maybe the better way to say it is that it’s one big love letter to the books that I think are brilliant and amazing. I think the answer to your question is: Yes, I anthropomorphize my books and no, I’m not seeking help for this. It’s definitely way too late for that.) Which, I mean, I get it. I get why some people don’t want this list: it’s called “Happy Hour” and not “Happy 7 Hours” for a reason. Anyway, all this to say that, much to my chagrin, polite society dictates that when someone asks me what my favorite book is, I have to choose one and currently, this is my answer (note the qualification of “currently”): J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter for older readers (obviously) and Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Gruffalo books for younger readers. Ugh, yes, okay, fine, yes. Technically, I didn’t choose just one. I chose nine…if they don’t count the other peripheral books in the Harry Potter universe and in the Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler universe (which, as we know, they absolutely should because it would be a crime to leave them out). Ugh. Whatever. I’m pretty sure that everyone here listening is on my side with this and we can just pity those other one-book-only-sticklers. So, anyway, the next time someone asks me this question, I can refer that person to this episode and then they’ll understand why Eric’s wife had some sort of mental breakdown over her Jack and coke at the bar when Henry from HR asked an innocent question about kids’ books.
Anyway, oh my gosh, how did we get here? Oh yes… Okay… Since we’re well and truly into autumn and The Gruffalo is, in my opinion, the perfect, cozy fall book AND it also has some Halloween monster vibes and Halloween is this weekend, I thought today would be the perfect day to do an episode on it. We even dressed up as the Gruffalo characters for Halloween last year. James was the mouse, Luke was the fox, I was the owl and I held a giant stuffed snake, and my husband, Eric, was the Gruffalo. He squeezed his very tall, hockey-player body into a mascot costume that was probably 3 sizes too small that I had ordered sight unseen—suffice it to say, he. was. THRILLED. But, and even Eric admitted this, he looked amazing and the kids loved it! I’ll put a picture of our Gruffalo family Halloween costume in the shownotes if you’re curious.
Alright, for those of you still listening (I don’t know how this episode went off the rails already—it really must be Halloween), The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler was published in 1999 and has become enormously popular in the United Kingdom (there is even a theme park that has an entire section devoted to Donaldson’s Gruffalo as well as some of her other works), but it’s only recently started to gain momentum here in the United States. Last September my son came home from preschool brandishing his Scholastic book flyer and announced, “Look, Mommy! The GRUFFALO is on it!” and I was just as excited as he was because, in my opinion, it is pretty much the perfect picture book and I think everyone should read it.
Here is the story:
A little brown mouse takes a walk through the woods and during his stroll he encounters three predators: a fox, an owl, and a snake. At each meeting, the predator asks the mouse to join him for a meal and each time, the mouse replies politely that he is unable to come because he has a previous invitation to meet with a Gruffalo, a supposedly imaginary creature that the mouse has invented to get him out of these predator/prey predicaments. With each successive encounter, the mouse elaborates on the Gruffalo’s fearsome appearance. He first says that the Gruffalo “has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws;” and then he says “he has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose;” and finally he declares “his eyes are orange, his tongue is black, he has purple prickles all over his back.” While trying to alarm each predator, the mouse also emphasizes the Gruffalo’s food preferences to suit the occasion; so the Gruffalo’s favorite food is roasted fox, owl ice cream, or scrambled snake,” depending upon who’s in front of him. Thus, the mouse manages to escape the murderous invitations of the fox, the owl, and the snake, shaking his head amusedly over how easy it was to fool them. However, as the mouse is happily remarking on the snake’s gullibility (“silly old snake, doesn’t he know? There’s no such thing as a gruffal-oh!”), he stops short because, to his utter amazement, the mouse comes face-to-face with his exact fantastic creation, right down to the terrible tusks, poisonous wart, and purple prickles. And, much to the mouse’s dismay, the Gruffalo announces that his actualfavorite food is mouse on toast: “My favorite food, the Gruffalo said. You’ll taste good on a slice of bread.” The mouse is shocked to see his imagination come to life, but, ever cunning and resourceful, he tells the Gruffalo that the Gruffalo’s assumptions about him are wrong. He, the mouse, isn’t “good;” on the contrary, the mouse announces that he is actually the most frightening creature in the wood. To prove it, the mouse then invites the Gruffalo to follow him back through the woods, re-encountering the snake, owl, and fox along the way, who see the Gruffalo in the mouse’s company and flee the scene in terror. In this way, the Gruffalo unwittingly saves the mouse again from each predator as the Gruffalo himself simultaneously grows increasingly convinced of the mouse’s fearsomeness. The final straw for the duped Gruffalo comes when the mouse announces that he, too, is hungry and his favorite food happens to be… Gruffalo crumble. Like the three other predators, the Gruffalo flees in terror, leaving the mouse to enjoy a nut in the now-quiet, peaceful wood.
So. Here are the reasons why this book is great and is at the top of my list of best children’s books:
First, as a person who studied Comparative Literature and taught in a Folklore and Mythology Department, one of the things that I love most about this book is that Donaldson wrote a story that simultaneously fits into the folkloric tradition—this could easily be an Aesopian mouse or a fairy tale monster—but that also has its own unique aspects—like its humor, its rhyme, its wonderful moments of surprise—that rework that tradition, making it more accessible and enjoyable for children today. Donaldson has said that she got the idea for this story from a Chinese folktale about a little girl who escapes a tiger by claiming to be the Queen of the Jungle and invites him to walk behind her. The tiger then misinterprets the fear of the other animals as being caused by the girl rather than himself and runs away. I love that Donaldson reimagines this tale with a monster that is supposedly a fantasy, turns him into a reality, and makes him the ultimate dupe of the story. I also love that the biggest test of the mouse’s mettle is from his own fantastic creation and that it turns out that even the scariest thing he can imagine is still really no match for his courage and cleverness. It’s a terrific lesson for children (and for adults, too, for that matter), but it’s packaged so cunningly and so charmingly that we don’t notice or mind that we’re being taught. Thus, it’s an excellent trickster narrative in every sense and it gets better and better with each read.
Okay, so now let’s talk technical stuff and how The Gruffalo will help your child become a better reader: First off, my summary of The Gruffalo just doesn’t do the book justice, because to really experience it fully, you have to listen to Julia Donaldson’s actual poetic text. This book has AMAZING rhyme and meter. Even if you think you suck at read-aloud, The Gruffalo is foolproof. Every line is perfectly crafted to flow seamlessly into the next, making it such an effortless reading experience. And, not only do the rhyming couplets and repetitive verse add to the charm and humor of the story, but they also make the book easily memorize-able. This means that this book is really perfect for young children who are progressing with their phonological awareness, which is a swanky way of saying their awareness of the sound structure of words. Phonological awareness is important because it is tied to overall language and speech development and it is also a reliable predictor of later reading ability. What this book does is help children who are pre-readers work on what is called “phonemic awareness of language,” which means they can start to recognize and manipulate speech sounds without needing to know the alphabet or how to spell.
And I witnessed this firsthand: My oldest son, James, was just over 2 years old when we first read this story and he memorized the entire book after only reading it a few times. You could give him a line from it and he would fill in the next verse and just keep on going. Like, we’d be driving and I’d say “A mouse took a stroll through the deep, dark wood…” And he’d jump in and say “A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked GOOD!” And I’d say, “Where are you going to” and he’d say, “Little brown mouse”and I’d say, “Come and have lunch” and he’d say, “in my underground house.” And now my son Luke is doing this, too. So in this way, without really being intentional about it, I was helping my children to become familiar with establishing patterns of sounds and words. Plus, it was really fun and you know, a cute party trick around the holidays when my husband dangled this little chubby two-year-old up in the air and he would immediately squeal, “Good, said the mouse, Don’t call me good! I’m the scariest creature in this wood! ROOOOAAAARRR!!!” It was adorable and one of my favorite memories of him at that age.
Additionally, because the language of the story has a symmetrical structure and the story itself has a symmetrical structure, it helps young children establish an anticipation of what is to come. They can use their prior knowledge to make predictions about what is going to happen next—which, again, is a necessary skill that helps promote good reading comprehension. In adult fiction, we call this “the patient development of inevitable consequence.” So when you’re re-reading this book to your child, you can say things like, “Look! The fox ran away from the mouse and the Gruffalo! Here comes the owl… What do you think he’s going to do? Do you think he’s going to eat the mouse? … No? … You think he’s going to be afraid of the Gruffalo, too? Let’s see!” Also, in really great works of adult literature, like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for example, this “patient development of inevitable consequence” alternates with moments of surprise. Like, if you’ve read Pride and Prejudice, when Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth Bennet and she refuses him: We know it’s going to happen, Elizabeth knows it’s going to happen, but the twist in the action, the real moment of surprise, comes when the rejected Mr. Collins turns around and proposes to Lizzie’s best friend Charlotte Lucas and she accepts him. What’s awesome is that Julia Donaldson does this too, but in fiction for young children. In The Gruffalo, Donaldson gives us our first big surprise when the Gruffalo turns out to be a real creature in the story’s universe. Then, once the mouse manages to fool the snake for the second time, we are again able to predict what’s going to happen next until we get to the end, where the second twist in the action occurs and the mouse surprises us again with his cunning when he tells the Gruffalo that he’s up next on the menu and the Gruffalo runs off in a panic. It’s really ingenious writing and, what’s even better, it absolutely delights child readers to see how clever and resourceful the mouse is. Donaldson really gets children. She knows they love to be mock-terrified. In other words, she understands that children like the comfort and security of knowing that the littlest hero is going to prevail, but also that they like that the predators do represent a real threat so there is something at stake in the story.
Okay, now on to the truly fantastic-in-every-sense-of-the-word illustrations and why they make the book even better:
Though The Gruffalo is perhaps their most famous collaboration, Axel Scheffler has worked with Julia Donaldson on many, many picture books, like Room on the Broom (another one of my favorites that I mentioned in Episode 11), Stickman, Zog, Zog and the Flying Doctors, Charlie Cook’s Favorite Book, The Smeds and the Smoos (which I mentioned in last week’s episode), The Highway Rat, and of course, the sequel to The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, and all of these books are illustrated in the same distinct, almost cartoonish (but in a good way!) style, with liquid watercolor and colored pencils. Each page is vibrant and full of little details that add to the book’s charm, like the presence of a little squirrel or a frog who seem to be observing and reacting to the actions of the main characters.
The Gruffalo is an example of a book with what’s called “interpretative illustration,” which means that the illustrations are complementary to the text and enhance the meaning of the words. In The Gruffalo, by changing the girl from the Tiger folktale into a mouse and making the predators a fox, an owl, and a snake, Julia Donaldson better permits the child reader to infer the personalities of the characters because, for example, a snake is usually a villain in literature so kids can make the assumption that the snake isn’t really being friendly to the mouse when he asks him to join him for a feast, HOWEVER, it is Axel Scheffler who really shows the reader the characters’ feelings and emotions. For example, if we take the first two illustrations that feature the snake which accompany the words: “On went the mouse through the deep dark wood. A snake saw the mouse and the mouse looked good. ‘Where are you going to, little brown mouse? Come for a feast in my log-pile house.’ ‘It’s wonderfully good of you, Snake, but no—I’m having a feast with a Gruffalo.’” Scheffler draws the snake in the first illustration as rearing up, ready to strike, his body in a sharp S curve and his expression is devious and malevolent, shown by his narrowed eye, slanting eyebrow, and determined smile. The mouse stands in front of the snake, looking placid and unperturbed, his arms hanging loosely by his sides, his back foot is even raised a little as if he will take another step forward towards the snake. Then, in the second illustration which is closer up, magnifying the characters and their faces, the mouse is gesticulating airily with his hands, his eyes closed as if confident that he doesn’t even need to look at the snake to know he’s frightening him. The snake in this picture looks unnerved, leaning backward, his eyebrow raised, his eye a comical round circle with the pupil looking nervously over his shoulder and even a slight dark circle around the rim of his eye as if he will lose sleep over the information he’s now receiving. With Scheffler’s illustrations, we can better understand what is going on in the story. If we just had the words, it would be a bit more difficult for the child reader to understand that, at this point in the story, the mouse is feeling even more emboldened after successfully fooling the fox and the owl (a confidence which, of course, makes his shock at running into the Gruffalo even more profound and comical).
The reaction of the snake in this illustration imitates those of the previous illustrations of the fox and the owl. I love that Scheffler draws them as not just plain scared, but in such a way that they betray a sort of a mortified alarm, as if they are embarrassed about being afraid, but just can’t help it. And therein lies the genius of Axel Scheffler: he manages to make the predators threatening but also humorous, which is so appealing to young audiences. Even the Gruffalo himself follows this formula. The Gruffalo is first shown to us in what are called vignettes, which in this book are little circles, almost like thought bubbles, that zoom in and illustrate the monster’s terrifying features as the mouse describes them to the fox, owl, and snake. They are all close-ups of, for example, a large paw featuring sharp, pointy claws, or a lurid green wart perched on top of a toothy snout, or sinister looking orange eyes. When the features finally do come together and we see the entirety of the Gruffalo for the first time, he does indeed look menacing… and yet… and yet, there is something slightly off-kilter that makes him not quite as threatening as he should be according to the text’s description. In the first full-body illustration of the Gruffalo, Scheffler draws him as almost a caricature of a monster, hunched over with his hands drawn up and, rather than examining his prey, looking out at the reader as if he is trying to see if he is successfully scaring us. His lolling tongue and potbelly in these first two illustrations also help to lessen his ferocity, which progressively diminishes with each successive page. As he follows the mouse back through the deep dark wood, his raised eyebrows, uncertain posture, and increasingly bewildered and uneasy expressions give him a sort of bumbling innocence or trusting bemusement that endear him to us. The poor, duped Gruffalo, we think, he’s really no match for this mouse.
To wrap up this discussion of the picture aspect of this picture book, I think one of my favorite illustrations—and one that is particularly hilarious—is the one that accompanies the mouse and Gruffalo’s encounter with the owl, in which the Gruffalo has his head raised toward the owl, but his wide orange eye is fixed nervously downward on the mouse, who looks back up at the Gruffalo, his hand on his hip and a smirk on his face. Here, Scheffler’s Gruffalo looks like one of Maurice Sendak’s wild things, held in the thrall of the child Max. It’s a really great moment of intertextuality that reveals to us that the mouse is calling the shots and has the Gruffalo right where he wants him. Intertextuality, just FYI, is the relationship between texts and the way a work of literature’s meaning and an audience’s interpretation of that work of literature, is shaped by another text. So, in this case, if you’ve read Where the Wild Things Are, when you come to this part of the The Gruffalo, you might recall the scene where Max is commanding the Wild Things, and because you are reminded of this scene, you might infer that the mouse, like Max, even though he’s ever so much smaller than the creature he faces, has total control of the situation and has the Gruffalo under his spell. So, anyway, if you and your child have read Where the Wild Things Are, this is a great moment to point out the similarities between the two books and, in this way, subtly help your child start developing an understanding of inference and intertextuality. (And if you haven’t, Sendak’s book could be your next read!) Or, you could also read some of Aesop’s Fables and point out The Gruffalo’s similarities to many of those stories and their accompanying illustrations. Again, I just love that both the text and the illustrations recall other works of children’s fiction, showing your child from a young age how works of literature don’t exist in a vacuum, but rather that they reference and honor and disparage and poke fun at and talk to each other throughout history. This, for me, is one of the joys of reading: when you come across something and think, I’ve seen this before, but here it is again, delivered in a completely new way, offering me an entirely new perspective. The Gruffalo does this in such a brilliant, engaging way that every time I read it, I find something new and just marvel at Julia Donaldson’s genius.
Okay, finally, I just want to also let you know that The Gruffalo “accompaniments,” I guess you could call them, are really excellent. As a parent who tries to work in children’s literature wherever she can, I really appreciate that if a book offers complementary merchandise and/or media, the spin-off stuff is of high quality and also helps to build your child’s brain. And I think whoever or whatever company manages The Gruffalo stuff is doing a great job.
First off, both of my toddlers were obsessed with the BBC short film of The Gruffalo. James is 4 now and it is still one of his absolute favorite things to watch and Luke is just enthralled by it. And my husband and I love it, too—so much so, that, like with the Room on the Broom short film that I mentioned in Episode 11, we’ve definitely watched it ourselves without our kids in the room. It is voiced by an awesome cast: Robbie Coltrane (aka Hagrid) does the voice of the Gruffalo, Helena Bonham Carter is the squirrel narrator, and James Corden is the mouse, to name a few. But what’s really wonderful is that it isn’t one of those movies that takes a short picture book and does so much elaboration to make it feature length that the story is almost unrecognizable (speaking of Where the Wild Things Are, I’m looking at you, Spike Jonze). The short film of The Gruffalo only really uses the text from the book which, for one thing, makes me feel better about allowing screen time. And it differs a bit from the book in a few ways: there are a few more scenes, like, for example, the one where the fox, owl, and snake convene and realize they’ve all been tricked, and the mouse is a little more fearful in the movie than in the books because at each encounter, he imagines what could happen if he accepts the predator’s invitation (like, for example, he ends up in a tea pot ready to be drunk by the owl or in a sandwich ready to be devoured by the Gruffalo). But the script itself is essentially the exact text of the book, so your child could even have the book out and follow along if she wants to. And I love that, as in the picture book, the short film doesn’t trivialize the real danger of being a small creature in a deep dark wood, but instead treats it with a sort of gallows humor. For example, in one scene when the mouse is strolling along, he sees a line of ants following each other up a tree trunk only to be eaten one after another by a woodpecker. He casually turns one ant to go another direction and the rest follow, saving them from the woodpecker, but the unlucky ones in front of that ant continue up the tree to become bird food. Or, another example is when the mouse is walking through the pond and little bugs start disappearing, sucked under the water to be eaten by a fish, but then the fish itself is snatched up to be eaten by a bird. All of these scenes are unsettling but amusing at the same time.
Besides the short film, Donaldson and Scheffler also have a joint website where you and your kids can go if you want to spend more time in the Gruffalo world or, if you have older children and they want to learn more about the book writing/illustrating processes. For example, one thing we found to be really cool is that Axel Scheffler shows some of his early sketches of the Gruffalo and the progression to the finalized version, so your kids can see how the character evolved to become more humorous rather than scary.
There are also Gruffalo apps that you can download on your phone or your iPad and, I have to say, even as a person who isn’t a fan of video games or game apps, these are actually pretty terrific for small children. They aren’t, like, mindless games with the characters just slapped on them. Whoever created them gave them a lot of thought to make the games complementary to the story and, more importantly, how to actually help the small children who play them work on important developmental skills like, for example, boosting memory capacity through a log pile memory/matching game with the snake; comparing and contrasting by finding the different object with the owl; fine motor and visual motor skills (as well as planning and brainstorming) through mazes and a marble game with the Gruffalo, and so on. James started really enjoying them around when he turned 3 and he still plays them now. They are a great alternative to just having him watch an episode of television if we are, say, in non-pandemic times, on a plane and we’ve run out of non-screen options or, when Luke was a baby and I had to put him down for a nap and I needed to be able to trust that James wouldn’t wander around the house accidentally causing mayhem while I was in the nursery.
And I also want to make a plug for The Gruffalo audiobook. It’s narrated by the brilliant Imelda Staunton (who, among many other roles, played Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter movies). James’s preschool is about a 25-minute drive from our house so we listen to audiobooks on the way and The Gruffalo is one of our favorites because Imelda Staunton is such a fantastic narrator. She also sings a Gruffalo song in the last track, which gets lodged in my brain a lot, but honestly, I’m never mad about it.
Finally, and admittedly, I am a huge sucker for bookish merchandise so we have all of the Gruffalo stuffed animals, a little Gruffalo finger puppet set, as well as the Gruffalo coloring and sticker books. And I have to say, The Gruffalo activity books are actually pretty excellent, with a lot of different things for children to do besides just color. I can link the specific ones we have in the shownotes. We bought them when James was a ringbearer to keep him occupied during the wedding reception and they worked like a charm. And as for the stuffed animals, they are super adorable and James really loves to play with them and act out the story. I mentioned this when I talked about Room on the Broom, but we have this little playhouse under the stairs that my Dad built for them and it has a little Dutch door and so James and Luke use it as a puppet theatre to put on different shows with the little stuffed animals. So, anyway, I justified buying them because I really love when my kids are so excited about a story that they want to bring it into their world a little bit more. I have that impulse, too, which is why as I’m sitting here recording this, there is a giant Sorting Hat perched atop my shelf. Is it necessary? No. Does it bring me a little spark of joy whenever I see it? Yes, Marie Kondo, it does and I. am. keeping. it!
And that’s it for this episode of the Exquisitely Ever After Podcast! I hope you enjoyed this chatty and slightly madcap/frenetic episode on The Gruffalo and I hope you’re all having a lovely October—I can’t believe it’s almost Halloween! This year has been so strange in that it seems like it can’t possibly be 7 months since March, but then it also seems like it’s been the longest year in history. I don’t know—it’s so bizarre. But, anyway, I’m excited that Halloween is coming because for me it really kicks off the festive holiday season and goodness knows we all need a lift. And speaking of which, every year we do a family children’s literature-themed costume for Halloween and I’ve been posting photos from the last 5 Halloweens on Instagram in the days leading up to October 31st and then I’m going to be revealing this year’s costume on Halloween itself, so if you want to see us all dressed up, you can follow me there @exquisitelyeverafter. And now that I’ve told you mine, I’d love to know: What is your favorite children’s book? I’m always so curious to hear other people’s favorite books and rest assured, I am not going to limit you to just one if you, like me, have an existential crisis making this decision! So give me your list of favorite books by sending me an email at christina@exquisitelyeverafter.com or you can dm me on Instagram at exquisitelyeverafter or you can leave me a comment on the blog post for this episode, at exquisitelyeverafter.com/episode14. And as always, please visit the show notes at, ExquisitelyEverAfter.com/episode14 for a complete list of the books that were mentioned today and if you liked this episode or this podcast in general, please do subscribe, it’s totally free and by subscribing you ensure that you don’t miss any new episodes. And if you have a minute, please leave a rating and a review on iTunes or please just recommend this podcast to a friend. For a new show like mine, these things help so, so much. I really appreciate that you took time to listen to me talk about reading to children today! I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween this Saturday and if you’re celebrating the Day of the Dead this weekend, I hope you enjoy those festivities, too! And finally, Election Day is November 3rd. If you haven’t already voted, please make a plan to get to the polls on Tuesday and cast your vote! The stakes are so high this election: our children’s futures, our democracy, our environment, our standing in the global community, and the integrity and the soul of our nation are on the line, so please vote! Take care everyone, keep safe, and of course, keep reading.
P.S. A really hilarious and unexpected byproduct of The Gruffalo was that, for a couple of months during his peak Gruffalo obsession, James would respond as the mouse when you asked him a question. Like, when I asked him at dinner one night “Would you like some more soup, Jamesy?” And he replied, “That’s terribly kind of you, Mommy, but no. I’m having some soup with a Gruffalo.” It was so cute…
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