AIBU to ask why The Gruffalo is so very popular?

[octaviarose]

I don't really understand why the Gruffalo is so very popular as a children's book, please someone explain the enormous appeal.

[gastrognome]

I quite like the Gruffalo story, but really don't like the illustrations. I just don't think they are well drawn, and all the figures look so stiff and static.
My DD quite likes the Gruffalo but no more than her other picture books. She preferred the Gruffalo's child I think!
And neither of us particularly liked the Snail and the Whale - I though the story was OK but the rhymes feel "clunky" to me, and again I really don't rate the illustrations.
My favourite JD is What the Ladybird Heard. Probably because Axel thingybob didn't illustrate it!

I do get annoyed that JD books are so prevalent in bookshops, while other wonderful children's books are nigh impossible to find (except online).

[CaptainBarnaclesDaddyman]

I love AS's illustrations, they have a charming aspect to them, an identifiable style and great use of colour. They remind me of Richard Scarry's work. And I love the way that the eyes sometimes seem to be looking out at the reader.

[balotelli]

JD is a genuis.

Room on the Broom is on the tv this Christmas!

Cant wait

[RawShark]

I agree OP. Never have got past the first page with DS. He loves My Dad by Anthony Browne though which has no rhymes at all.

[BartletForTeamGB]

Our favourites are Stick Man (when the Stick Lady & Stick Children are missing their dad almost makes me cry!), The Highway Rat & Tiddler. The rhythms just carry you through her books and the pictures are great.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Room on the Broom is going to be the highlight of my dd's Christmas.

Stick man and his stick lady love make me cry.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Has anyone read Superworm yet?

[Chandon]

The Gruffalo taught my 3 year old to read!

He learned it off by heart, easy due to it's rhythm anf rhyme, and then " pretend read" it whilst reciting. Until he could read all the words! All by himself.

Also, the story is funny and clever, yet quite simple.

A classic I reckon.

[Lougle]

The Gruffalo is I've of those books which grows with the child. Of course they won't get the subtleties at first. As they grow, they start to understand.

It is really very clever, lots of reverse psychology.

[RedLentil]

My 4-year.old daughter is only happy if I spend most of the day 'being' a gruffalo.

Sometimes she forgets herself and says 'Hello Gruffalo' when I pick her up from play group.

[thegreylady]

In The Gruffalo the small creature (child) natural prey of so many creatures manages to defeat them all through cleverness and a bit of trickery. It teaches the bullied child that being small and weak doesn't mean you have to be served "on a slice of bread".
When I was teaching I used the book in every year of primary for so many activities including labelling,news reports,and story reviews.

[Startail]

No idea, we somehow never owned a copy.
We do have the gruffalo's child which is ok.

Little tiger not wanting to go to bed and Slinky Malinky were the one's I read most. I could recite those. DD1s favourite is Room on the Broom, but they had that at school.

[SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood]

Has anyone mentioned cave baby yet? Or as DD calls it "da baby in da cave"?
(is that even JD)
Anyway that's another favourite. As is Zog.

[StanleyLambchop]

Stick Man all the way in this house, I get all misty eyed when he goes back to his stick lady & kids at the end!

The Tiger who came to Tea is just weird= is Mum on drugs & tripping out this bizzarre story? I've always wondered?

[maillotjaune]

Tiddler and Charlie Cook are better, but I love rhyming books for small children. That's why Dr Seuss is so good but while we're in the subject of overrated can I point out that Marvin K Mooney is much better than Green Eggs.

[AlexReidsLonelyBraincell]

How could I forget Sharing a Shell? I remember reading it in a bookshop when pregnant with dc1 and getting all teary. I love everything about that book :)

[SminkoPinko]

the v peckish caterpillar is a classic because the collage illustrations are amazing and were probably the first of their kind and because it tells a quite complex tale of metamorphosis in a simple, colourful, original, accessible, mildly amusing, tactile way that even quite a young baby can appreciate at some level. I think it's a bit ubiquitous but I can see why because it's also got the nostalgia factor since it's been around for a good few generations now.

[Pascha]

Nah Tiger mummy has just had a really shitty day, ended up drinking all of daddy's beer and couldn't face cooking so daddy did the right thing, accepted the tiger story Sophie came up with and took them all out for sausages in the dark.

[milkymocha]

Zog is my favourite JD book by far, it is referred to as 'mummys best book'

For Whomever mentioned the Tiger who came to tea.. I dont get it? I think its a rubbish book! Is their a meaning to it that iam missing?!

[maillotjaune]

The Tiger Who Came To Tea is wonderful - the kind of preposterous story children make up. And Sophie tries telling the tiger to stop (look at her whispering in his ear) but secretly enjoys him being so naughty.

And going out to a cafe in you pyjamas, in the dark - the simple enjoyment of being a child in the 70s

[mountains]

Ah but I think it's not just the subtleties they don't get - it's the whole story. Why does the Gruffalo run away when the mouse says her tummy is beginning to rumble? My 2-yr old never got it. He'll get it now that he is 4, but he'd be a bit bored by the repetition, and possibly a bit blasé about the pictures. So I think although I'd like it to be a great book, I don't think it can be, because it's not actually well-suited to any stage. Why is a book that a 2 yr old can't understand, that then turns into a relatively unexciting one for a 4yr old being hailed as great? There are so many other books.
I don't really care, though, honest! As toddlers my kids found the build-up v.exciting, (the end probably less so) and loved my various voices; I was just curious to see if I'm the only one to feel like that, and i can see that I am.

Also I prefer books without a 'message' in them - which is why i love 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea'; it's just a simple story where the the tiger's actions are not clear, to the parent who is reading the book no more than to the child, so both can wonder about them, and the child's guess is as good the parent's, which is very unusual in kids books, and makes for nice conversations, I think.

[PeppermintPasty]

I absolutely love The Tiger Who Came To Tea, but whenever I read it to the dcs I can't help thinking that the tiger is an invention of the mummy who has been drinking all afternoon and has forgotten to cook the daddy's tea. She tells the daughter a story about a tiger coming in and eating all the food and all the tea and all the water from the tap, even daddy's beer.....then daddy comes home, hears this tale with a weary look on his face, (heard it all before) and without so much as a by your leave, takes them both out for a cafe supper.

Then mummy is all better the next day, and remembers to go shopping. The tiger never comes back though, so she probably invents something else next time, daddy has her sectioned, divorces her and remarries. The end.

Or is it just me

[PeppermintPasty]

oh duh that'll teach me for not reading earlier posts. Great minds Pascha

[CaptainBarnaclesDaddyman]

My mum ripped up a copy of tiger who came to tea, proclaiming it to be sexist claptrap. She really didn't like the way that mummy was so stupid to let a tiger in and let it eat and drink everything, and then be the poor little woman who didn't know what to do and have to rely on daddy coming to the rescue because he's such a clever chap who's got an answer for everything.

I've never been able to read it without viewing it that way...