Axel Scheffler

Oh, thank you very much.

Julia Donaldson's latest book, Gruffalo Granny, is illustrated by Axel Scheffler, published by Macmillan, and distributed in Canada by Publishers Group.

We reached Ms. Donaldson in London.

[upbeat rock music] This is it, your big score.

Like that, yes.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

So our book in Australia, it was...

Where's the Green Sheep by Min Fox and Judy Horacek.

So If they love The Gruffalo, you might find other books by Julia Donaldson if you think it's the words that they like.

But if it's the illustrations, then Axel Scheffler actually has a whole bunch of books that he has written and illustrated himself as well.

Use your child's reactions as your guide.

You do not need to guess what the best book is in the abstract.

Gruffalo Granny, though, with four times as many books sold as Richard Osman.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are straight in at number one and are going to be there, based on those numbers, for quite some time.

They have sold as many copies as the next 20 best-selling books have sold combined.

A very, very, very good week for the Gruffalo and his granny.

And that... 56 000 is the second biggest single week sale for any book this year behind Gruffalo Granny wow so like that's the gap is huge that is mad

I mean but didn't you all say this is the first book number one first time

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have been at number one which is insane yeah how is that well because they the Gruffalo was her second book

Oh, was it? Is that? So she had one book out in 93.

So she is going to be with us after 10 o'clock this morning with the illustrator behind some of her most beloved books.

Axel Scheffler is his name.

They're a really funny little duo actually.

I think they hadn't even met in person when they started working together but they have had preposterous success.

He's the Gruffalo, Gruffalo, Gruffalo.

So good.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler are superstars in the world of children's literature.

Julia's fanciful, perfectly rhyming tales paired with Axel's unmistakable, hilarious illustrations make them a formidable force.

Yeah

... illustrated by Axel Scheffler, Gruffalo Granny, which is, I mean, will be an instant mega, mega, mega-

Exactly

... bestseller and classic.

And Matthew then said, "Could, could we turn that into a book?" And she says, "Well, I, yeah, I s- I, I suppose so," said, "But I can't...

You know, I don't have...

Would someone do the drawings?" And they say, "Oh, we got this young guy from, uh, Hamburg called Axel Scheffler.

He can do the drawing for you." Uh, and she's like, "Well, okay." So they publish, uh, Squash and Squeeze.

And, and the, the Gruffalo Granny is, is on its way.

Now, the, the Gruffalo franchise, the Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, you know, ph- phenomenon that dominates so many bookshops and, and homes shelves, um, over the last couple of decades, is this one that has, has caught your attention over the years, Wayne?

Um, so I have a, an 18 and a 16-year-old, so, uh, but The Gruffalo originally was massive in our house, so much so that in our family we actually have an Uncle Gruffalo within our family who, uh-

[laughs]