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Meet Gruffalo Granny – the new Julia Donaldson character inspired by grandmotherhood

Julia Donaldson has announced a new book inspired by grandmotherhood, and it's sure to strike a chord with parents in their 40s and beyond

Heidi Scrimgeour's avatar
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The Gruffalo books by Julia Donaldson including the new Gruffalo Granny
(Image credit: Julia Donaldson / Axel Scheffler)
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Meet Gruffalo Granny, the latest book by award-winning children’s author Julia Donaldson. Almost three decades since The Gruffalo was first published, Donaldson is taking us back to the deep dark wood once more – but this time, the star of the story is a grandmother.

The new book will be published on 10 September, 27 years after The Gruffalo was first released in 1999, and more than two decades since the follow-up, The Gruffalo’s Child, hit bookshelves in 2004.

Announcing news of Gruffalo Granny on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Donaldson revealed that the idea had been sitting quietly “in the cupboard” for years, until her son encouraged her to bring it to life.

The Gruffalo books

Despite previously insisting there would never be another Gruffalo story, illustrator Axel Scheffler is once again on board, describing the project as impossible to resist.

Set to feature Donaldson’s trademark rhythmic storytelling alongside Scheffler’s iconic illustrations, the new book opens with the line: “The Gruffalo said to his daughter one day, ‘Your Gruffalo Granny is coming to stay.’”

A national campaign to address falling reading levels among young children also helped prompt the celebrated author to pick up her pen again, and her own experience of grandmotherhood was also a factor.

The Gruffalo books have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 115 languages since 1999. They’ve also inspired theatre productions and TV adaptations that have become festive staples for many families.

Asked what makes The Gruffalo so enduringly popular, Donaldson suggested the secret lies in the fact that grown-ups enjoy the story as much as children. “Sometimes – I know from my own experience – you get a book that your child likes and you want to put it down the back of the radiator,” she said.

My favourite Julia Donaldson books

With 2016 nostalgia still going strong, this is a timely trip down memory lane for those of us in our 40s and 50s who read The Gruffalo to our kids so many times over the years that we can still recite the story word for word.

Indeed, this announcement feels particularly special to me. Over the past 20 years, my three children have had piles of Julia Donaldson books stacked on their bookshelves. The Gruffalo has been a constant throughout their childhood bedtime routines and inspired many of our best World Book Day costumes. So yes, there’s a deep sense of nostalgia here – but the real joy of this story goes far beyond that.

What matters is that a grandmother, so often marginalised or ridiculed in popular culture and rarely granted main-character energy, is taking centre stage in Gruffalo Granny. It gives me hope that this mirrors a wider shift in attitudes: that being an older woman no longer automatically means being sidelined or underserved, but finally having our stories told and our perspectives treated as worthy of attention.

It's just a children's book, you might argue, but to me it feels more like a milestone.

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Heidi Scrimgeour
Heidi Scrimgeour
Ecommerce Editor

Heidi is a highly experienced lifestyle journalist with nearly 20 years in the industry. Before joining Future in 2021, she built a successful freelance career spanning over 15 years, earning bylines in many of the UK’s leading national newspapers, including The Guardian, The Times, and The Telegraph. Her work has also featured in a wide range of print and digital magazines such as Psychologies, Red, Glamour, and Mother & Baby, where she spent six years as Shopping Editor. Heidi now specialises in consumer content, creating expert buying guides, product reviews, and gift round-ups that take the guesswork out of “what to buy for...” any occasion.

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