Gruesome Gruffalo is parents’ bedtime favourite
A STORY featuring a fearsome monster lurking in a wood doesn’t sound like the ideal book for a child to hear just before putting their light out and snuggling up in bed.
And yet the Gruffalo – a children’s favourite ever since it was published in 1999 – has now been named the nation’s best-loved bedtime story by parents.
The tale of a mouse who describes a terrifying monster to scare off predators, came top in a poll with 58 per cent of parents voting for it. With illustrations by Axel Scheffler, it was written by Julia Donaldson while living in Bearsden, Dunbartonshire, and has sold more than 13million copies.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (right), which scored 49 per cent, was second in the poll of 1,500 parents for Mamia at Aldi. Written and illustrated by Eric Carle, it has sold more than 50million copies since appearing in 1969. Other best-loved bedtime stories were The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr (46 per cent), We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury (42 per cent) and the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (35 per cent).