276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Tiddler

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

Donaldson's parents, James (always known as Jerry) and Elizabeth, met shortly before the Second World War, which then separated them for six years. Jerry, who had studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford University, spent most of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp where his knowledge of German earned him the position of an interpreter. Elizabeth, also a good German speaker with a degree in languages, meanwhile did war work in the WRNS.

Poetry also featured strongly in Donaldson's early life; she was given The Book of a Thousand Poems by her father when she was five years old, and her grandmother introduced her to Edward Lear’s nonsense rhymes. Donaldson attended New End Primary School and then Camden School for Girls. During her childhood and adolescence she acted (understudying the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream at The Old Vic where she made the acquaintance of a young Judi Dench and Tom Courtenay), sang with the Children's Opera Group, and learned the piano.Julia Donaldson at home with a character from The Smeds & the Smoos. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

She is unafraid to touch upon seemingly adult themes, such as bereavement. “There are an awful lot of books about ‘I love you mummy’. ‘Yes, I love you, too, darling little bear!’ I’m not saying there’s not a place for those, but there’s so many books on that which I think are probably quite reassuring for the parents,” Donaldson said. “Most children I would hope take for granted that their parents or carers love them. They want a story where you’re not with them, and you’re having some sort of adventure.” At her best, as with the susurrous, wave-like meter of The Snail and the Whale, she is irresistible: “And she gazed at the sky, the sea, the land / The waves and the caves and the golden sand / She gazed and gazed, amazed by it all / And she said to the whale, ‘I feel so small.’” Sometimes it makes me feel slightly dizzy to think of all the children who are reading those books every day with their parents,” Scheffler said. “It’s such an intimate thing, and still we are kind of there.” Can you spot the ‘Gruffalo’ fish in the illustrations? Can you design your own fish based on a character from a popular story? In her laureate role Donaldson has campaigned passionately against library cuts and closures, writing articles, meeting ministers and – with Malcolm Donaldson – embarking on a 6-week tour of UK libraries in autumn 2012. In all of the 38 libraries the visiting children were requested to perform a short play or song based on a picture book, as well as joining in Donaldson's own stories and songs. The tour was designed to celebrate libraries but also to generate publicity about the plight of some of them. [ citation needed] Personal life [ edit ]

Brings such joy to children and adults alike. The show was so captivating that no one wanted to miss a moment' The Spy in the Stalls

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s tales are lovingly brought to life. A perfect children’s show.’ The British Theatre Guide Someone from another publisher happened to see my publishing schedule,” Donaldson told me. “They said: ‘That’s more than the number of books we do altogether – for everyone.’”The Gruffalo was sent to Reid Books in 1995. Donaldson sent the text to Axel Scheffler, whom she had met only once or twice, briefly, following the publication of A Squash and a Squeeze. Within days Macmillan Children's Books made an offer to publish The Gruffalo, which was illustrated by Scheffler and published in 1999. If Donaldson’s books feel timely, it’s because their messages are ultimately timeless: decency, empathy, humour. “So many of Julia’s stories are about kindness,” Scheffler said. Donaldson has railed against what she calls “books as medicine” – children’s publishing’s tendency towards books with an obvious social message, such as feminism or the climate crisis. “I think now people are doing these terribly message-y books,” Donaldson told me. “I’m just as feminist as anyone else, but you know there are now lots of books to show that girls can be feisty.” She balks at the idea of picture books as activism. “Even if its message was something I really care about, like saving the planet, I probably wouldn’t do it unless I had a really juicy idea.” She studied drama at Bristol University, and in 1969 spent a summer studying in Paris with a friend. Malcolm, then a medical student and a friend-of-the-friend, joined them. The group made money busking. Malcolm played guitar and Julia sang, covers mostly, but increasingly songs of her own – little ditties in French, a song in Italian about pasta – designed to amuse the crowd. Throughout the early 70s, they spent holidays busking across Europe and the US and performing street theatre. (They wed in 1972; Donaldson composed an operetta for the occasion.) In 1977, she and Malcolm recorded an album, First Fourteen, containing some of their early songs, which have a folksy, absurdist charm, reminiscent of early Monty Python. Is this book suggesting that lying and story telling is a positive or negative thing? Perhaps hat question could be posed in class to begin a discussion.

Donaldson studied Drama and French at Bristol University (1967–1970), graduating with a 2:1 honours degree. During her time there she acted in departmental productions and learnt the guitar. In 1968, she and her friend Maureen Purkis took part in the play I am not the Eiffel Tower with music composed by Colin Sell, an accomplished young pianist who was studying Spanish and Portuguese at Bristol and who has gone on to appear in BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Sell's roommate Malcolm Donaldson, a medical student who played left-handed guitar and was a keen amateur actor, came to see the show and subsequently teamed up with Sell, Donaldson and Purkis to sing in the pubs during Bristol University Rag Week in early 1969. Almost immediately after this Donaldson and Purkis were seconded to live in Paris for six months as part of their degree course where they sang and played their guitars to café audiences for money. Malcolm joined them in the summer and the trio performed various songs by the Beatles and from musicals including Hair. Walsh, John (3 October 2015). "Julia Donaldson interview: The Gruffalo author on how Judi Dench and busking helped her career". The Independent . Retrieved 12 April 2020. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). Picture books are theatre for an audience of two,” said Kate Wilson, the managing director of publishers Nosy Crow and Donaldson’s former publisher. “They require performance, because most of the audience of a picture book is not able to read. And Julia is a performer.”Donaldson with the Singing Mermaid, and Snake from The Gruffalo. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment