Meet all your favourite characters from the deep dark wood in this brilliant lift-the-flap, pop-up board book based on the bestselling classic picture book, The Gruffalo. There are also eight Songbirds collections for home use, each volume containing between six and twelve stories, and I’m delighted that these and also the individual titles (all signed by me!) are now available from my local bookshop.

The Smeds (who are red) never mix with the Smoos (who are blue) . . . until Janet meets Bill in an unforgettable love story of alien folk. Read moreOne little snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of an enormous whale. Together they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it's the tiny snail's big plan that saves the day! Lift the flaps and join in the winter fun with Squirrel's Snowman, a story in the Tales from Acorn Wood preschool series by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo... Read more Lift the flaps to join in the fun with Frog's Day Out, a story in the bestselling Tales from Acorn Wood preschool series by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo... Read more The Gruffalo Jigsaw Book is in a special novelty board book format, including six twelve-piece jigsaw puzzles which every Gruffalo fan will enjoy!

Julia Donaldson was born Julia Shields in 1948 in Hampstead, London. It was a musical household - both of her parents were in the Hampstead Music Club. Her mother sang, and her father played the cello. During her childhood, Donaldson acted at the Old Vic, played the piano, and sang with the Children’s Opera Group. By the age of 19, she was conversant in French, German and Italian. During her studies in the 60s, she lived in Bristol and Paris and met her future husband, Malcolm Donaldson.

Gruffalo books for Christmas

Creating this series was my favourite kind of challenge. Almost every word in every book had to be phonically decodable, and yet I wanted to write proper stories which children would enjoy reading. I also wanted them to be really varied, as I know how children’s tastes differ. So some of the stories are in prose, some in rhyme, some are realistic and others fantastical. There are a few non-fiction titles, a play and a quiz, and the books are illustrated by a wonderful variety of artists. I think my favourite characters are Spike who says he can dive, drive and feed wild lions, and a kleptomaniac kangaroo called Sue who comes to school and steals the spoons and glue.