Julia Donaldson
Personal Information
Description
Julia Donaldson CBE (born Julia Catherine Shields; born 16 September 1948) is an English writer and playwright, and the 2011–2013 Children's Laureate. She is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children, especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, which include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man. She originally wrote songs for children's television but has concentrated on writing books since the words of one of her songs, "A Squash and a Squeeze", were made into a children's book in 1993. Of her 184 published works, 64 are widely available in bookshops. The remaining 120 are intended for school use and include her Songbirds phonic reading scheme, which is part of the Oxford University Press's Oxford Reading Tree.
Books
What the Ladybird Heard
Although much quieter than the farm animals that moo, cluck, or oink, a gentle ladybug is instrumental in foiling a plan to steal the farm's prize-winning cow.
Stick Man
Stick Man ends up far away from his family tree when he is fetched by a dog, thrown by a child, used as a snowman's arm, and even put on a fire, but finally Santa Claus steps in to make sure that Stick Man and his family have a joyous Christmas.
Running on the cracks
Leo's running from her past. Finlay's running into trouble. Together, they stumble into a crazy new world of secrets, lies and Chinese food.
Monkey Puzzle
Monkey Puzzle tells the tale of a young monkey who has lost his mummy. He searches through the jungle for her with the help of a friendly butterfly. The tale unfolds in rhythmical rhyming verse with bright coloured, fun illustrations.
Charlie Cook's favourite book
A circular tale in which each new book character is reading about the next, beginning and ending with Charlie Cook.
Sharing a Shell
The tiny hermit crab loves his new shell. He doesn't want to share it. But life is tougher than Crab thinks, and soon he finds he needs his new housemates.
Bricks for breakfast
After winning a competition to design a new cereal and consuming multiple bowls of it while shooting a television commercial, cereal-loving Stephen's tastes change.