The Gruffalo

Julia Catherine Donaldson was born on Sept. 16, 1948 in London. She is a British writer and playwright and the 2011-2013 Children's Laureate. She is known for her rhyming stories for children. These include: The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man. She began writing songs for children's television but has focused on writing books when the words of one of her songs - A Squash and a Squeeze were made into a children's book in 1993. She has over 180 published works with 120 of them intended for school use and include her Songbirds phonic reading scheme, which is part of the Oxfird Reading Tree. She has won several awards including: The Stockport Book Award for her title The Troll, The Oxfordshire Book Award for her title Zog and The Oldham Book Award for her title Jack and the Flumflum Tree. In 2015 The Gruffalo made The New Zealand Best Seller List. Axel Scheffler is a star illustrator whose instantly recognizable, warm and witty illustrations have achieved worldwide acclaim and numerous awards. Axel is the illustrator of wonderful novelty, gift and poetry books for Macmillan, such as Fish Who Dream of Trees (Two Hoots) and the bestselling The Bedtime Bear, The Tickle Book and Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes - and of course, he is the illustrator of some of the world's best-loved picture books, including modern classics The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, which together have sold over 17 million copies worldwide. Axel's artwork is exhibited internationally; he has illustrated for many charities and designed the Royal Mail Christmas stamps in 2012. Born in Hamburg, Axel now lives with his family in London.