It's decent enough, with bright illustrations, some good rhymes and a brown skinned girl on the front (instead of the usual pink), but this is a mid-range effort in the Donaldson/Scheffler canon. I was very interested to see a ghost on the cover and throughout who bares resemblance with Marley’s Ghost from Dickens’ famous tale - I think it’s amazing that when the young children come across A Christmas Carol (which the majority in England will due to the GCSE spec) they might recognise the ghost after having The Baddies as a staple household item.

Julia and Axel are the team that have created picture book favourites such as The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Zog and Highway Rat - all of which have been made into animated films premiering on BBC1 Christmas Day. You have to understand that when I see a new Julia Donaldson picture book, I'm am fully prepared to be blown away by her story.Captivating, full of opportunities for giggles and even a story for the bigger children… (yes adults that’s you!

Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. Each individual attempt was met with a surprise act from their neighbor, and the results was complete failure by the baddies. They are always so much fun to read with the little people in my life and the illustrations are always bright, cheerful and fun.I liked this book - the rhymes and rhythms were almost consistent - a few areas where the scansion didn't work for me. One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. My only question is why are the endpapers purple with white polka dots, when the handkerchief that was the main element in the story was blue with white polka dots? My novel THE GIANTS AND THE JONESES is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old. The witch, troll, and ghost are more silly than scary, making this an ideal Halloween read-aloud for the early elementary grades.

I was intrigued to see that the Ghost was very much drawn in the style of Jacob Marley from Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'. With Julia Donaldson’s (author of The Gruffalo) trademark quirky humour and rhyming text and Axel Scheffler’s detailed illustrations, there are lots of fun things to spot as you read and reread the text. Of course, the little mouse saves the day and rids the woods of our pesky villains, and we all sleep more soundly at night. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Published just in time for Halloween, I had great hopes for this story featuring a ghost and a witch (and a troll).The baddies devise different ways to scare her but are unsuccessful as she shows them kindness and understanding.

I think her reactions were genuine and she was just doing what felt natural in the moment--which makes it even funnier to me, that she was thwarting them without even trying! She was the UK Children’s Laureate 2011–13 and has been honoured with a CBE for Services to Literature. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Her other books include Room on the Broom, Stick Man and Zog, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, The Hospital Dog, illustrated by Sara Ogilvie and the hugely successful What the Ladybird Heard adventures, illustrated by Lydia Monks.When reading it to my son, it was hard to make it interesting and it did not captivate him in the way her books usually do. But the little girl quickly shows them that you don’t have to be big to be brave, and baddies don’t always win.