Webchat with JULIA DONALDSON live from Hay Festival! Saturday 28 May, 4-5pm

[RachelMumsnet]

We're thrilled that acclaimed author and former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson is our webchat guest on Saturday 28 May from 4 - 5pm live from Hay Festival.

The Gruffalo, Zog, Room on the Broom, Tiddler, The Smartest Giant in Town and What the Lady Bird Heard plus a host of other best-loved books have endeared her to countless children and their parents.

At Hay festival Julia gives a first peek of The Detective Dog, her latest character who not only has super powers of smell but can also help children learn to read.

So, if you're a fan, come and chat to Julia about her writing at 4pm on Saturday. And if you can't make the webchat itself, do post a question in advance.

Julia Donaldson is performing an all singing and dancing performance at Hay Festival on Saturday 28 May at 10am.

The children at school love your books.
I really enjoyed visiting the exhibition of some of the original illustrations and explained to the children that you chose the illustrator to go with your story rather than use the same person. They wanted to get the books out and compare the styles.

Afternoon all, it's a real honour to introduce Julia Donaldson to Mumsnet, who will be answering your questions over the next hour live from the Hay Festival. A big warm welcome Julia - over to you...

Hello, this is Julia, writing from the Hay Festival where I've just done a show and a 3-hour signing! Looking forward to answering some of your questions.

@summeriscoming

My 3 year old son would like to know where Gruffalo Mum is please?

People often ask this! I'm not really sure but I think she may have gone on holiday with one of her sisters.

That is very touching. Thank you for telling me about this little boy's reactions to some of my books.

@AtSea1979

Thank you for your wonderful books and tv adaptations, kept my DC entertained. Even at 11 and 7 years old they still love your stories, as do I. One of our favourites is a squash and a squeeze. I'm a TA and work with a little boy who has autism and communication difficulties. He bearly says two words but I read him the smartest giant at the end of each day and one day he recited the entire book back to me, it was an amazing moment. He can now recite a number of your books. Yet barely speaks from one week to the next.

@TwoLeftSocks

Do you have your own Gruffalo onesie?

No, but I have lots of little ones for my five grandchildren.

Yes, there is another book featuring deaf characters. It's called WHAT THE JACKDAW SAW and is about sign language. I wrote it with some deaf children, and it has great pictures by Nick Sharratt.

@bonnie1981

Julia I wanted first of all to thank you for 'freddie and the fairy' as I am hearing impaired (as I know you are too) and it enabled me to explain my deafness to my then 5 year old daughter, so she understood it better, as well as successfully encouraging my daughter's teacher to read it to her class enabling her classmates to understand how to speak to my DD's mummy.

I wanted to ask if you would feature any more characters with disabilities?

@catkirk

LOVE your writing, it reads like songs.

Do you ever think about the balance of male vs female characters in your books because in a lot of them it feels quite uneven to me.

I did start off as a songwriter, which perhaps explains why there is a songlike quality to my verse. As for the male/female balance, yes, I do think about this. A friend criticised me for having so many male characters in THE GRUFFALO, which is why I made the Gruffalo's Child be a girl. And the starting point for my dragon book ZOG was the Madam Dragon schoolteacher character.

@Amaksy

Would you ever write adult books/ novels?

I don't think I'll write any books for adults but I have made two albums of songs for grown-ups. (You can find them on my website.) And adults seem to enjoy my teenage novel RUNNING ON THE CRACKS.

@HouseOfBiscuits

Which do you think about first, the characters or the plot?

I usually think about who the main character is going to be, e.g. a highwayman or a dog or whatever. But then I spend a huge amount of time working out the plot in my head before I start writing, as I think that the story/plot is terribly important.

@bluecarpet

for all those Julia Donaldson fans out there, don't miss Tyrannosaurus drip - I think it's her best book but much less well known than the other.

Thank you! TYRANNOSAURUS DRIP is about a misunderstood vegetarian dinosaur, and it's great fun to act out. (In fact, there's a play version of it in a series called PLAYS TO ACT.)

@BearGryllsHasaBigRope

My son has a lot of your books. We both love reading them before bedtime and I often get the stories stuck on repeat in my head.

What inspires your books? They're so imaginative and such lovely stories.

It's different for every book! To give a couple of examples, THE PAPER DOLLS was inspired by a picture of some paper dolls on the cover of one of my husband's medical magazines, and STICK MAN was inspired by Axel Scheffler's pictures of a stick doll in THE GRUFFALO'S CHILD.

@boilingkettle

Now on my second run of nightly reads of The Gruffalo, Gruffalo's Child, and The Snail and The Whale and loving another child's delight in the written word. When I was allowed to slip in a different book the other day I lifted 'Where the Wild Things Are' and was struck by the 'terrible eyes' and 'terrible claws' lines. Was this book an influence when you were writing The Gruffalo?

Although I was of course familiar with WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, I wouldn't say it was an influence. i wasn't going to avoid using the word "terrible" to describe a monster just because someone else had used it! And most monsters have teeth and tusks, etc.

@glenthebattleostrich

Can I just say thank you. Dd wanted to be a princess doctor because of princess pearl in zog.

Is there going to be another animation at Christmas. We are still watching all of them at least weekly.

There are plans for a new animation in 2017, but I'm not yet allowed to say which book it will be!

@MummyTheTramEngine

My nearly 4 yo has adored your books since he was well under 6 months, as by 6 months old he would grin at the first sentence of What the ladybird heard as I had to recite it so often while out and about to stop him crying (it was the only thing that worked as he hated being in the push chair) . We love reading your books aloud as the rhythms are so satisfying that they don't get stale on the umpteenth re telling and lend themselves so well to be memorized. Thank you for the hours and hours and hours of joy you've given us!

I'm so glad that you like WHAT THE LADYBIRD HEARD. We've just had fun acting out the sequel, WHAT THE LADYBIRD HEARD NEXT, at the Hay Festival.

@Hygellig

How much input do you have into the illustrations - are they a collaborative effort or does Axel Scheffler just take your words and go from there? For example, in Tabby McTat when the kittens go to their new homes, did you suggest what you had in mind?

PS We've really enjoyed your books and the TV adaptations.

I don't have much input into the illustrations, as I don't think it would be fair to breathe down an illustrator's neck since they don't breathe down mine when I'm doing the writing. But actually in TABBY MCTAT I seem to remember I did do some illustrations about the kittens' new homes - I wanted one rich home and one poor one, and I think I suggested that the rich home should be Buckingham Palace (but that suggestion was ignored!)

@Bubbinsmakesthree

Just done three rounds of The Gruffalo this bedtime - I never get bored of it! My Gruffalo has evolved a strange hybrid Yorkshire/West Country accent. What did the Gruffalo sound like to you when you wrote the book?

That's so funny! In my imagination the Gruffalo is slightly cockney (which is how my husband acts him) but I've been told very firmly that he comes from Australia and also from Birmingham.

@r0ck

I've heard a rumour that all your books feature the Gruffalo in one way or another. Is this true? If so, where is it in Monkey's Puzzle and Room on the Broom- it is driving me mad!

Axel only started including pictures of the Gruffalo after about our sixth book together, so you won't find any in MONKEY PUZZLE or ROOM ON THE BROOM. So you can stop torturing yourself!

@RumAppleGinger

Big julia donaldson fans in our house.

We love going to see the theatre productions of your books at the Edinburgh fringe. They are always wonderful and often the best kids show we see. Do you get to decide which theatre companies are allowed to adapt your books?

Also just wanted to say thank you so much for taking the time to reply to the lette

The two main theatre companies who adapt my books for the stage are Tall Stories and Scamp, and I did select them quite carefully. I wouldn't want too many different companies to put on shows based on my books but occasionally I do grant permission - for example, there was a lovely puppet show of THE PAPER DOLLS which was on at the Angel Theatre and at Polka (both in London) and then went on tour.

@BretonTop

Huge fans of yours in this house. I've had to read A Squash and a Squeeze to my 2yo every night for almost three months He also loves The Gruffalo now, and both he and his 5yo brother adore Room on a Broom (which we enjoyed live at our local theatre a while ago).

What was the inspiration behind The Gruffalo? And when did you realise it had become such a massive success?

THE GRUFFALO is very loosely based on a Chinese folk tale about a tiger. You can find a fuller answer on my website!

@AnnoyedByAlfieBear

We love your books in our house! My three year old son would like to know how the giant can be the smartest in town when he is outside of the town on his way home for the majority of the book? but he's not in the town mummy!

You have a very perceptive child! I think the town in this case includes the outskirts and the suburbs!

@IkeaTetris

Oh wow my daughter and I absolutely love your books. Her favourite is The Smartest Giant in Town (mine is Zog )

Who was your favourite author growing up and what was your favourite book?

I loved E Nesbit (THE RAILWAY CHILDREN etc) and also the William books by Richmal Crompton.

@MidnightVelvetthe5th

Ah we had most of them when ds was small, I could probably still recite Tiddler if I had to :) but my all time favourite is the Highway Rat

I love it when people tell me that they or their children can recite the stories. THE HIGHWAY RAT is one of my favourites too, as I can't help having a soft spot for him even though he's such a greedy rogue.

@Charell20

Which of your books is your favourite?

My personal favourite is The Smartest Giant In Town and my daughters is The Snail and the Whale!

You are a very talented lady and it is a pleasure to read your books to my little girl.

The books are my children so it's hard to have a favourite! However, I am very partial to my latest book, THE DETECTIVE DOG, which has wonderful pictures by Sara Ogilvie (famous for her illustrations to DOGS DON'T DO BALLET.) It's the story of a dog who as well as being a detective also goes into a school to hear children read. I am also quite keen on some of my fiction titles, such as the PRINCESS MIRROR-BELLE books and my teenage novel RUNNING ON THE CRACKS.