Donaldson, Julia 1948-

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Donaldson, Julia 1948-

Personal

Born September 16, 1948, in London, England; daughter of James (a geneticist) and Elizabeth (a secretary) Shields; married Malcolm Donaldson (a pediatrician), September 30, 1972; children: Hamish, Alastair, Jesse. Education: Bristol University, degree (drama and French), 1970. Politics: Tory. Religion: "Agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: Piano, singing, walking, flowers, fungi.

Addresses

Home—Glasgow, Scotland.

Career

Children's book author and playwright. Former songwriter for children's television.

Awards, Honors

Smarties Gold Medal Award for picture books, and Kate Greenaway Medal nominee, both 1999, and Blue Peter Award for Best Book to Read Aloud, and Experian Big Three Book Prize, both 2000, all for The Gruffalo; Blue Peter Award for Best Book to Read Aloud, Children's Book Award shortlist, Sheffield Children's Book Award shortlist, and Scottish Children's Book Award, all 2002, all for Room on the Broom; W.H. Smith Children's Book of the Year honor, 2005, for The Gruffalo's Child; Blue Peter Award for Best Book to Read Aloud, 2005, for The Snail and the Whale.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

A Squash and a Squeeze, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Margaret K. McElderry (New York, NY), 1993.

Birthday Surprise (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1994.

Names and Games (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1995.

(Reteller) Turtle Tug (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1995.

(Reteller) The Three Billy Goats Gruff (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1995.

(Reteller) The Boy Who Cried Wolf (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1995.

(Reteller) The Magic Twig (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1995.

Space Girl Sue, illustrated by Clive Scruton, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1996.

(Reteller) Town and Country Mouse, illustrated by Nick Schon, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1996.

Mr. Snow, illustrated by Celia Canning, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1996.

(Reteller) Counting Chickens, illustrated by Jeffrey Reid, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1996.

The King's Porridge, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1996.

The Wonderful Smells (play), illustrated by Jan Nesbitt, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1997.

Top of the Mops (play), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1997.

The Brownie King, illustrated by John Eastwood, Heinemann (Oxford, England), 1998.

Books and Crooks (plays), Stanley Thornes (Cheltenham, England), 1998.

The False Tooth Fairy (plays), Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1998.

Waiter! Waiter!, illustrated by Jim Kavanagh, Heinemann (Oxford, England), 1998.

All Gone!, illustrated by Alexa Rutherford, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1998.

The Gruffalo, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

Steve's Sandwiches, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1999.

Clever Katya, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1999.

The Noises Next Door, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 1999.

Monkey Puzzle, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Macmillan (London, England), 2000.

(Reteller) The Strange Dream, illustrated by Thomas Sperling, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2000.

Problem Page (play), illustrated by David Mostyn, Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2000.

The Boy Who Talked to Birds, illustrated by Suzanne Watts, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2000.

One Piece Missing, Rigby Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2000.

Jumping Jack, Rigby Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2000.

The Giant Jumperee, Rigby Heinemann (Oxford, England), 2000.

Follow the Swallow, illustrated by Martin Ursell, Mammoth (London, England), 2000, Crabtree (New York, NY), 2002.

(Reteller) The King's Ears, illustrated by Lisa Berkshire, Oxford University Press (London, England), 2000.

The Monsters in the Cave, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 2001.

Stop, Thief!, Ginn (Aylesbury, England), 2001.

Room on the Broom, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2001.

The Dinosaur's Diary, illustrated by Debbie Boon, Puffin (London, England), 2002.

Night Monkey, Day Monkey, illustrated by Lucy Richards, Egmont (London, England), 2002.

The Smartest Giant in Town, Macmillan Children's (London, England), 2002, published as The Spiffiest Giant in Town, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2003.

The Trial of Wilf Wolf, illustrated by Martin Ursell, Longman (Harlow, England), 2003.

Princess Mirror-Belle, illustrated by Lydia Monks, Macmillan (London, England), 2003.

The Head in the Sand: A Roman Play, illustrated by Ross Collins, Hodder Wayland (London, England), 2003.

The Magic Paintbrush, illustrated by Joel Stewart, Macmillan (London, England), 2003.

Conjure Cow, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Puffin (London, England), 2003.

Brick-a-breck, illustrated by Philippe Dupasquier, A. & C. Black (London, England), 2003.

Bombs and Blackberries: A World War II Play, illustrated by Philippe Dupasquier, Hodder Wayland (London, England), 2003.

The Snail and the Whale, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Macmillan Children's Books (London, England), 2003.

One Ted Falls out of Bed, illustrated by Anna Currey, Macmillan (London, England), 2004, Holt (New York, NY), 2006.

The Wrong Kind of Bark, illustrated by Garry Parson, Egmont (London, England), 2004.

Wriggle and Roar!: Rhymes to Join in With, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

Crazy Mayonnaisy Mum: Poems, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

Sharing a Shell, illustrated by Lydia Monks, Macmillan (London, England), 2004.

The Gruffalo's Child, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Macmillan (London, England), 2004, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2005.

Rosie's Hat, illustrated by Anna Currey, Macmillan (London, England), 2005.

Chocolate Moose for Greedy Goose, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Macmillan (London, England), 2005.

The Gruffalo's Song, and Other Songs (includes compact disk), illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Macmillan (London, England), 2005.

Princess Mirror-Belle and the Magic Shoes, illustrated by Lydia Monks, Macmillan (London, England), 2005.

The Giants and the Joneses, illustrated by Greg Swearingen, Holt (New York, NY), 2005.

Charlie Cook's Favorite Book, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Macmillan (London, England), 2005, Dial Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2006.

(With John Henderson) Fly, Pigeon, Fly!, illustrated by Thomas Docherty, LIttle Tiger (London, England), 2006.

Hippo Has a Hat, illustrated by Nick Sharratt, Macmillan (London, England), 2006.

Princess Mirror-Belle and the Flying Horse, illustrated by Lydia Monks, Macmillan (London, England), 2006.

Tiddler, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Arthur A. Levine (New York, NY), 2007.

Also author of educational materials for Oxford University Press and Walker Books.

The Gruffalo has been published in over twenty languages.

"TALES FROM ACORN WOOD" SERIES

Postman Bear, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Campbell (London, England), 2000.

Fox's Socks, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Campbell (London, England), 2000.

Hide and Seek Pig, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Campbell (London, England), 2000.

Rabbit's Nap, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Campbell (London, England), 2000.

OTHER

Also author of songs, scripts, and stories for BBC television and radio (mainly children's programs). Author of Cat Whispers, Rigby. Author of unpublished musicals King Grunt's Cake and Pirate on the Pier. Contributor of poetry and plays to anthologies.

Adaptations

The Gruffalo was adapted into a board book, an oversized-format book, and an audiobook, and was adapted as a musical stage production produced in Lon- don, England, 2005. The Giant and the Joneses was adapted as an audiobook, read by Patricia Conolly, Recorded Books, 2006, and was optioned for film by Warner Bros., 2004.

Sidelights

A storyteller and songwriter who performs her own material accompanied by her guitar-playing husband, Julia Donaldson did her first prose writing for television and radio in her native Great Britain. These creative activities, with their focus on young children, led the Scotsborn writer to move into picture-book writing in the early 1990s. "My book A Squash and a Squeeze started life as a song on a television programme," she once explained to SATA. In the years since, Donaldson has become one of the most beloved writers for young chil-

dren, and her book The Gruffalo has become a modern-day picture-book classic. Another of her many popular works, Charlie Cook's Favorite Book captures the magic of reading in eleven linking stories that were praised by a Kirkus Reviews writer as "masterfully rhymed" and "clever" in their approach.

Donaldson retells the well-known story about an elderly woman who wishes for a larger house in A Squash and a Squeeze. Dubbed a "jolly version" of the traditional folk tale by Books for Keeps reviewer Liz Waterland, Donaldson's retelling finds an elderly woman frustrated over the lack of room in her tiny home. Taking the advice of a wise man, she invites all her farm animals into the house. After subsequently ousting the cumbersome creatures, the woman realizes that her home is large enough after all.

Donaldson continues in the same humorous vein in many of her other picture books, including The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale, The Giants and the Joneses, and One Ted Falls out of Bed. Told in rhyming verse, The Gruffalo introduces an imaginary creature invented by a frightened mouse as a means of scaring off potential predators. After the mouse escapes becoming the tasty snack of, in turn, a hungry fox, owl, and snake, it comes upon the very Gruffalo it has created in its imagination, complete with fangs, claws, and a healthy appetite. Donaldson continues her story in a sequel, The Gruffalo's Child, which finds the daughter of the Gruffalo determined to search out the fearsome but tiny creature her father warned her about. In a Publishers Weekly review of The Gruffalo, a contributor wrote that Donaldson "manipulates the repetitive language and rhymes to good advantage," and London Observer reviewer Sam Taylor dubbed the book "a modern classic." In Booklist, Stephanie Zvirin praised Donaldson's text, noting that its "bouncy, humorous text flows smoothly," while Books for Keeps reviewer Clive Barnes called The Gruffalo "cleverly constructed." Praising Alex Scheffler's "humorous, cartoonlike illustrations" for The Gruffalo's Child, Horn Book contributor Jennifer M. Brabander noted of the sequel that the images "work well with Donaldson's pleasingly repetitive" rhyming text, resulting in "a story that … is clever rather than truly scary."

With Room on the Broom Donaldson uses a folktale format to tell the story of how helpful animals hitch a ride on the broomstick of a generous witch. A striped cat, spotted dog, green parrot, and frog each help the witch out of a jam, and in return they are given a ride on what ends up being a very comfortable conveyance. Noting that Donaldson's "rhythm and rhyme are lively and quick," Booklist reviewer GraceAnne A. DeCandido added that Scheffler's illustrations "partake equally of silly and spooky." While the storyline's "metrical rhyme and goofy suspense aren't groundbreaking," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, young readers will "find it refreshing" to see a witch cast in a new role in Donaldson's entertaining story. Pamela K. Bomboy, writing in School Library Journal, predicted that because Room on a Broom is "full of fun, and not at all scary," it will be a "surefire read-aloud hit."

The Snail and the Whale follows the journey of a tiny snail and the fast-swimming whale that helps the tiny creature along. Noting the story's environmental sub-text, a Publishers Weekly reviewer added that The Snail and the Whale "lightly demonstrates that friendships come in all shapes and sizes." A stuffed animal stars in One Ted Falls out of Bed, a counting picture book featuring art by Anna Currey. In Donaldson's tale, after a teddy bear is nudged out of his child's bed and onto the floor in the middle of the night, he enlists the help of three mice in waking the sleeping child and returning to his place under the covers. Noting that Currey's illustrations "capture the giddy, magical fun" of Donaldson's story, a Publishers Weekly reviewer added that One Ted Falls out of Bed gives pre-readers ample opportunities to elaborate on the story's rhyming text. In Kirkus Reviews, a critic dubbed the book "a sweet addition to any bedtime routine."

Giants figure in several of Donaldson's books. The Spiffiest Giant in Town, which follows George the giant as he attempts a clothing make-over, features a rhyming text contains about which a Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote: "joie de vivre and the characters' droll camaraderie will almost certainly prove infectious." The Giant and the Joneses moves readers into a fairy-tale realm, as Donaldsen puts a new spin on the story about Jack and the beanstalk. In this tale, a giant's child named Jumbeelia lives up above the clouds. Fascinated with human children, she grows a beanstalk down to earth and kidnaps the three young Jones siblings—Colette, Poppy, and Stephen. Trapped in Jumbeelia's playhouse in the sky, where they are the victim of the giant's brother's teasing, the children must find a way to escape the misguided young giantess and return to earth. In her novel story, Donaldsen even includes a glossary of Groilish terms, Groil being the language spoken by giants. Praising Donaldson's ability to create a dual narrative mixing human English and giant Groilish, School Library Journal reviewer Elaine E. Knight called The Giants and the Joneses "an exciting story with a subtle message about respect and cooperation."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 26, 1993, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, p. 78; July, 1999, Stephanie Zvirin, review of The Gruffalo, p. 1950; September 1, 2001, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Room on the Broom, p. 120; March 1, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Spiffiest Giant in Town, p. 1201; May 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Charlie Cook's Favorite Book, p. 88; June 1, 2006, Kathy Broderick, review of One Ted Falls out of Bed, p. 80.

Books for Keeps, May, 1995, Liz Waterland, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, p. 8; May, 1999, Clive Barnes, review of The Gruffalo, p. 21.

Childhood Education, fall, 1999, Kelly Krawczyk, review of The Gruffalo, p. 44.

Children's Book Review Service, August, 1993, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, p. 158.

Horn Book, January-February, 2005, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of The Gruffalo's Child, p. 75; July-August, 2006, Kitty Flynn, review of One Ted Falls out of Bed, p. 424.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1999, review of The Gruffalo, p. 882; August 1, 2001, review of Room on the Broom, p. 1121; January 1, 2003, review of The Spiffiest Giant in Town, p. 60; February 15, 2004, review of The Snail and the Whale, p. 176; August 15, 2005, review of The Giant and the Joneses, p. 912; May 1, 2006, review of Charlie Cook's Favorite Book, p. 455; May 15, 2006, review of One Ted Falls out of Bed, p. 516.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, May 2, 1993, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, p. 7.

Observer (London, England), April 4, 1999, Sam Taylor, "When You've Been Traumatized by a Teddy, There's Only One Way Out…."

Publishers Weekly, April 26, 1993, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, p. 78; June 21, 1999, review of The Gruffalo, p. 67; September 10, 2001, review of Room on the Broom, p. 92; January 6, 2003, review of The Spiffiest Giant in Town, p. 59; February 23, 2004, review of The Snail and the Whale, p. 75; December 13, 2004, review of The Gruffalo's Child, p. 68; May 15, 2006, review of Charlie Cook's Favorite Book, p. 71; May 22, 2006, review of One Ted Falls out of Bed, p. 50.

School Library Journal, April, 1993, Nancy Seiner, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, pp. 95-96; August, 1999, Marianne Saccardi, review of The Gruffalo, pp. 132- 133; September, 2001, Pamela K. Bomboy, review of Room on the Broom, p. 187; March, 2003, Bina Williams, review of The Spiffiest Giant in Town, p. 191; February, 2004, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of The Snail and the Whale, p. 111; March, 2005, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of The Gruffalo's Child, p. 170; October, 2005, Elaine E. Knight, review of The Giants and the Joneses, p. 112; June, 2006, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of One Ted Falls out of Bed, p. 110; July, 2006, Jill Heritage Maza, review of Charlie Cook's Favorite Book, p. 71.

Times (London, England), November, 1993, review of A Squash and a Squeeze, p. 45.