One way to get your annual book total up fast is to read 24-page children's books. While most would agree this is deceptive, I felt The Gruffalo important enough to include in my reading list. I've read dozens of books to my daughter, and the award-winning Gruffalo stands out as one of our all-time favorites. It's a story of how a mouse evades the predators of the forest by warning them of the imminent arrival of a "gruffalo"- a horrible creature of the mouse's own devising (or so the mouse thinks). Imagine its surprise when it meets just the creature it's been imagining! Then, ingeniously, the mouse uses the presence of the creature to scare the other predators away, while making the gruffalo believe the other predators are in fact scared of the mouse, not the gruffalo. In the end, mouse turns this second deception on the gruffalo itself, which flees in fear, leaving the mouse all alone to enjoy his meal, which is all he wanted.
The story, rhyming, and artwork are excellent here, and in general I really enjoy Julia Donaldson's stories. When you read 3 stories or more to your child each day, you may as well enjoy them.
Rating: A+
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