How cute are these ?! Well, they would be to anyone who has read and loved the Gruffalo story anyway ! You can tell Mike always escapes reading bedtime stories to the kids because he took one look at it and said "WHAT is THAT ?! It's a bit scary, isn't it ? What's it supposed to be ?!" To which the girls replied, in chorus, " Silly old daddy, doesn't he know? There's no such thing as a gruffalo !" then fell on the floor in fits of giggles ! Which still got him no closer to knowing what the Gruffalo was, so I sent him off to read it with the girls !
When I was a kid, I always used to love getting soft toys of characters out of books or TV programmes because it made them feel extra special, like they had almost celebrity status ! I felt really important snuggling in bed with them to read (or listen to) their story or curling up on the settee with them to watch them on TV. Well, I chuckled to myself to see that Juliette is just the same and tucked the Gruffalo toy in bed with her to listen to the story.
Just in case there are any other non-plussed parents scratching their heads and saying "What's a gruffalo ? Is it like a buffalo ?", The Gruffalo is a strange, admittedly slightly scary-looking, animal who stars in a children's book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Wikipedia informs us that "the book has sold over 10.5 million copies, has won several prizes for children's literature, and has been developed into plays on both the West End and Broadway". You must have heard of it, surely !
The Gruffalo plush toy that we received to review is an officially licensed product so, as you would expect, it is really high quality. It's lovely and soft and seems very hardwearing and I love the fact that it sits up by itself on the bedroom shelf without falling off in the middle of the night and scaring the kids to death !
The Gruffalo toys come in three sizes, small (7"), medium (9") and large (16"), but whichever size you choose, they ALL come complete with terrible tusks and terrible claws ! I can see these being on a lot of Christmas wishlists in a few months !
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : Small £7.99, Medium £14.50, Large £23.99
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I love the Gruffalo books! We read it at bed time tonight. We were in Hamleys and I spotted the Gruffalo toy but I wasn't spending £15 on a cuddly toy!
ReplyDeleteLovely review - thanks! How cute is a cuddly gruffalo, our youngest took his to bed last night and fell asleep holding his paw and fiddling with his terrible claws. So glad you like him - Bev
ReplyDeleteI want one of these, my niece and nephew would love it, if I paired it with the book as well it may be even more meaningful,
ReplyDeleteThat's the best thing, great for encouraging reluctant readers too :-)
ReplyDeleteMy Daughter will love her Gruffalo toys as she loves the book and the TV Programme which we have recorded.
ReplyDeleteThese are going to be and proving to be a big seller this Christmas, as everywhere has sold out of Fox, Owl and Snake
we love the gruffalo and lots of other julia donaldson books too!
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