A Squash and a Squeeze Award-winning team by Julia Donaldson (author) and Axel Scheffler (illustrator)

Author/Illustrator

Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson is author of many of today’s best-loved picture books including The Gruffalo and Stick Man. Best known for her collaborations with Axel Scheffler, each of these vivid rhyming stories is a triumph of imagination. She was also the Children’s Laureate 2011-2013.

More about Julia: “I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).

Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us.

I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.

Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.

The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television.

One of my television songs, A Squash and a Squeeze, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published.

My real breakthrough was The Gruffalo, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately – he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow – but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.

My novel The Giants and the Joneses is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic Princess Mirror-Belle who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old.

When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs.”

Axel Scheffler

Axel Scheffler was born in 1957 in Hamburg, Germany. At school, although always good at art, he never really considered a career in illustration. But long before he began his professional life, he had won his first drawing prize for an international chocolate company – his prize was a cuddly lilac cow.

Axel went on from school to study History of Art at the University of Hamburg – but he didn’t like the course and decided to leave. Knowing that he wanted to live in another country and learn a second language, he moved to England to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art.

After graduating with a first class degree, Axel moved to London where he began illustrating for a variety of English and German advertising companies, magazines and newspapers. He took his portfolio to a number of publishers and Faber commissioned him to illustrate The Piemakers by Helen Cresswell and The Bottle Rabbit by Bernard McCabe. In 1989, Walker asked Axel to illustrate a text by Jon Blake, You’re a Hero, Daley B.

A writer called Julia Donaldson was also writing songs for Playdays at this time and her song A Squash and a Squeeze was commissioned to be a picture book. Axel Scheffler was recommended as an illustrator for the text and an award-winning team was created.

Their next book, The Gruffalo, was published in March 1999 and has already become a modern classic, selling more than 2 million copies worldwide and translated into over 20 languages. Axel also continues to illustrate for other authors as well, including Ian Whybrow and David Henry Wilson.

Axel has achieved worldwide acclaim for his humorous illustrations, and his books have been translated into over 29 languages. He has enjoyed particular success in his award-winning picture book collaborations with Julia Donaldson, but is also the best-selling illustrator of novelty books such as The Bedtime Bear. In 2006 he was been called upon to design Gordon Brown’s annual Christmas card!

Still living in London, Axel makes frequent visits to continental Europe. His hobbies include walking, cooking and reading and beadwork.

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What kids think

1. Cheerforevers
   on 8 March 2014

   This is really funny!

2. moshlinglover06
   on 4 March 2014

   I liked this book because the lady puts all her animals in her farm house and all the animals start to mess up the house

   3out of 5

3. loulou38
   on 25 April 2013

   it is funny

   4out of 5

4. ruts
   on 1 April 2013

   Good best I have red

   5out of 5

5. TheMileLongBookshelfBlog
   on 8 March 2013

   Read this to my 3 year old cousin, he loved every single word

6. fiery75orange
   on 7 March 2013

   I love this book

7. supercoolcharm
   on 7 March 2013

   This is an unforgetable tale of an old woman who has a small cottage. I recommend this book for young readers aged 2-6

   5out of 5

8. lap312i
   on 6 March 2013

   this book is for younger kids but it is funny.

9. ninjastickman
   on 6 March 2013

   This is an unforgetable tale of an old woman who has a small cottage. I recommend this book for young readers aged 2-6

   4out of 5

10. rockstar101
    on 6 March 2013

    i recommend this book for young children

    4out of 5

11. rahul2313
    on 5 March 2013

    the coolest book ever verry funny

12. samcharlie123
    on 5 March 2013

    I loved this book when I was younger! It’s really funny and I love the illustrations too.

    Would recommend this to any younger readers who love to laugh when they are reading.

    4out of 5

13. Mads545
    on 4 March 2013

    I loved this book and I had many laughs as a kid reading it. My family still reminds me that its one of my favorite books!

    5out of 5

14. TwilightTeamEdward
    on 4 March 2013

    I love this book and I always read it to my little sister.

15. Rebecacola
    on 4 March 2013

    I used to love theese books the teacher would always read it(i still love it now)

    5out of 5

16. powerpush22
    on 4 March 2013

    My teacher read it in calss for our literacy and everyone thought that’s for the little ones but we all liked it!

17. kkitt-kkatt
    on 15 February 2013

    one of my all time favourite

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