Every child would have heard of Gruffalo isn't it? We made a decision to watch The Gruffalo this round and invited my niece to come along with us! Guess what, she is 7 years old and have never of The Gruffalo. This is what I meant by assuming. We don't practice reading the same type of books and I assumed everyone knew about it!! V was reading it when she was a toddler (I mean I read :P) hahah. We are big fans of Julia Donalson's books and "A Squash and A Squueze" being our mother and daughter favourite (Julia Donaldson's 1st picture book). We managed to catch that favourite in KidsFest 2013! It was just amazing and it lead me to buy most of her books. I bought most of her books she collaborated with Axel Scheffler, David Robert's and Nick Sharatt. Sad to say, V hasn't picked up my reading joys... YET. I can only hope K has my genes.
Something about the Gruffalo for those who has never read it before. It has sold 5 million copies around the world and has been translated into 50 lanuages! It was 1st published in 1999 and was even nominted at the Oscars, you can read their awards here. The story is about a cunning mouse who survives the whole woods' journey after encountering a fox, an owl and a snake. He evades danger by creating an fictional creature, The Gruffalo. The reading is fun for it creates a reading aloud joy for the parents which is why the it gets engaging trying to be animated! The inspiration for the Gruffalo came about because (as explained in her autobiography)
"The book was a going to be about a tiger but I couldn't ger anything to rhyme with "tiger: Then I though up the lines:"Silly old fox, doesn't her know/ Ther's no such thing as a ______" and somehow the word "Gruffalo" came to mind to fill the gap. The gruffalo looks the way he does because various things that just happened to rhyme (like toes and nose, black and back)
Kidsfest 2014
We enjoyed the adaptation of the Gruffalo by Kidsfest! The rapport between the actors were in sync and loved how they teased each other. It made what was a slightly long show for a child to a engaging one. V was glued to her seat the whole time but my niece got slightly distracted as she didn't quite understand the joy of the storyline till much later. My dear 15 mo got only into the groove when the music started and when there were dancing! The adults found the bantering between the actors to amusing. Overall it was worth the watch, of course there were parts of the show I found it slightly lengthy.
It was just amazing that the team was able to transform a 5 mins book to a 55 mins play! I read that this production has performed around UK and all over the world from Poland to Germany, from alaska to Hongkong, from Malaysia to Paris, from dubai to Chile and from Broadway to Sydney Opera House! With a production so well aclaimed, its a great start to allow the children to start watching performance from young.
We came home and read Gruffalo, this time round it has become way more fun!!!
I am so ready to book my Kidsfest 2015 when V is slighlty older and that she will be able to enjoy more shows!!
Disclosure : We were gifted the tickets to catch Gruffalo and there was no monetary compensation for this post. All views were strictly V's and mine.
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