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Last week, Stuart Heritage ranked his 15 favourite books by Julia Donaldson, and readers have responded with their own opinions, along with memories of reading her beloved stories to their children. Here are some of the most popular picks from the Gruffalo author’s gigantic oeuvre.
Monkey Puzzle
Monkey Puzzle is my three-year-old daughter’s favourite book. She’s bilingual, and – for this book specifically – she always wants me to read it in Arabic. So it’s “La, la, la!” instead of “No, no, no!”, otherwise she doesn’t like it (and she lets me know about it). Her Arabic is much better because of this book, at least when it comes to animal-related vocabulary. We went to a zoo the other day, and she referred to the elephant’s trunk in perfect (Sudanese) Arabic – a proud parenting moment for me. Affa, Glasgow
My son is multisensory-impaired, he has nystagmus and unilateral hearing loss, and has always loved stories as somewhere that he can completely immerse himself. Julia Donaldson’s have always appealed and, though it’s difficult to know how much of the detail in the illustrations he can see, he loves to point out the characters or items of interest.
Monkey Puzzle is often revisited, and if there’s a part that I misread then it will be corrected. He particularly loves naming all of the animals after I have read the “No, no, no!” part and we will often repeat these to each other in the day and laugh. I know that this is something that will always bring a smile to his face. William, East Sussex
The Gruffalo
Fifteen years later I can recite The Gruffalo word for word. My son insisted on me reading it to him at bedtime every night for the best part of a year! If I ever go on Mastermind it would be my specialist subject! UncleKarlM
My daughters are now 14, 17, and 20. Julia and Axel [Scheffler]’s books are as indelibly imprinted in my memory as the Ladybird books I read as a nipper in the 70s. When the animated version of The Gruffalo was broadcast for the first time I sat us all down excitedly to watch (they were still of an age where they would mostly listen to anything I had to say) – within seconds I was in bits. All those years of reading it to them, but it was like someone was reading it to me. Very embarrassing. stripsidebob
Illustration: flab/Alamy
My children used to give me belly laughs all the time. One of my favourites was when my son was four and I was reading The Gruffalo to him and his older cousin who was visiting. I got to the bit just before the real Gruffalo appears and he stopped me and said earnestly to his cousin: “There’s a Gruffalo along in a minute.” Like most things that cause a complete collapse this probably doesn’t sound funny to other people but I was laughing so much I couldn’t speak for five minutes. WithoutPurpose
The Paper Dolls
I think The Paper Dolls is an amazing book; definitely my No 1. It touches on so many themes: imagination, loss, memories, cruelty, play and the way traditions are passed down through generations. Such a talented combination of author and illustrator to cover all of that in a relatively low number of words and a few pages. Most importantly, it’s still simple and entertaining enough for little ones to understand and enjoy. Both my kids are too old for it now, but I’ve kept a copy, and hope to be able to read it to grandkids one day. ProfyleNeim
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Paper Dolls never fails to move me to tears, absolute heartbreaker. Like a flash-forward to the kids leaving home. Had to stop reading it coz they kept asking me if I was all right. JosephFrady
The Highway Rat
My son absolutely loves this book. When he watches the animation he just laughs and laughs. We listen to the soundtrack in the car, too, and he greets people saying: “Stand and deliver!” which is both hilarious and mortifying. Susannah Mohammed
Zog
Our two-year-old, Phoebe, loves all of the Julia Donaldson books but her favourite is Zog. From a very young age she loved the illustrations of the brightly coloured dragons and all of Zog’s mishaps. We think Princess Pearl is a feminist icon for challenging traditional stereotypes about what girls can do and she has inspired our daughter to want to be a doctor and look after people (and dragons) when she grows up. Amy Peck, Chelmsford
