Tiddler Award-winning team by Julia Donaldson (author) and Axel Scheffler (illustrator)

Author/Illustrator

Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson is author of many of today’s best-loved picture books including The Gruffalo and Stick Man. Best known for her collaborations with Axel Scheffler, each of these vivid rhyming stories is a triumph of imagination. She was also the Children’s Laureate 2011-2013.

More about Julia: “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).

Mary and I were always creating imaginary characters and mimicking real ones, and I used to write shows and choreograph ballets for us.

I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married.

Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.

The busking led to a career in singing and songwriting, mainly for children’s television.

One of my television songs, A Squash and a Squeeze, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published.

My real breakthrough was The Gruffalo, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately – he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow – but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.

My novel The Giants and the Joneses is going to be made into a film by the same team who made the Harry Potter movies, and I have written three books of stories about the anarchic Princess Mirror-Belle who appears from the mirror and disrupts the life of an otherwise ordinary eight-year-old.

When I’m not writing I am often performing, at book festivals and in theatres. I really enjoy getting the children in the audience to help me act out the stories and sing the songs.”

Axel Scheffler

Axel Scheffler was born in 1957 in Hamburg, Germany. At school, although always good at art, he never really considered a career in illustration. But long before he began his professional life, he had won his first drawing prize for an international chocolate company – his prize was a cuddly lilac cow.

Axel went on from school to study History of Art at the University of Hamburg – but he didn’t like the course and decided to leave. Knowing that he wanted to live in another country and learn a second language, he moved to England to study illustration at the Bath Academy of Art.

After graduating with a first class degree, Axel moved to London where he began illustrating for a variety of English and German advertising companies, magazines and newspapers. He took his portfolio to a number of publishers and Faber commissioned him to illustrate The Piemakers by Helen Cresswell and The Bottle Rabbit by Bernard McCabe. In 1989, Walker asked Axel to illustrate a text by Jon Blake, You’re a Hero, Daley B.

A writer called Julia Donaldson was also writing songs for Playdays at this time and her song A Squash and a Squeeze was commissioned to be a picture book. Axel Scheffler was recommended as an illustrator for the text and an award-winning team was created.

Their next book, The Gruffalo, was published in March 1999 and has already become a modern classic, selling more than 2 million copies worldwide and translated into over 20 languages. Axel also continues to illustrate for other authors as well, including Ian Whybrow and David Henry Wilson.

Axel has achieved worldwide acclaim for his humorous illustrations, and his books have been translated into over 29 languages. He has enjoyed particular success in his award-winning picture book collaborations with Julia Donaldson, but is also the best-selling illustrator of novelty books such as The Bedtime Bear. In 2006 he was been called upon to design Gordon Brown’s annual Christmas card!

Still living in London, Axel makes frequent visits to continental Europe. His hobbies include walking, cooking and reading and beadwork.

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What kids think

1. Sushi123
   on 21 July 2016

   Great. A classic for all little children.

2. crazykitty
   on 9 March 2014

   Loved this book

3. Cheerforevers
   on 9 March 2014

   This is about a fish called tiddler who is always late.

4. Sushi21
   on 4 March 2014

   Tiddler is always late. He has lots of excuses. It’s good that he could find where he came from following his tales.

   5 out of 5

5. lmdrld
   on 6 March 2013

   This is great I love how tiddler comes up with all his excuses.

6. kkitt-kkatt
   on 15 February 2013

   tiddler is such a geneous character. i loved the gruffalo fish

7. angelslater
   on 1 March 2012

   i read this with my brother and found it really funny. i love the adventure.

   5 out of 5

8. boxer39
   on 3 March 2011

   this book is about a fish that makes great storys up to all his freinds like the do;fins and seahorse.and everyone loved them.i liked this

9. emily6
   on 9 April 2010

   “GO AND GET THIS BOOK NOW”

   5 out of 5

10. bambini19693418
    on 23 March 2010

    i think tiddler in okay. i have a little sister that loves it and so dose my dad.

    3 out of 5

11. CharlieGiraffe22
    on 21 February 2010

    I have read this to my little sister many of times, and, I find that is a brilliant book for little childre age 0-5 and everyone will enjoy it. It teaches you names of lots of different fish, and tells a story of a little fish that is always telling lies. One day, he is telling the truth, but no body at his school will believe him, but his friend, Little Johny Dory does.

    5 out of 5

12. connr
    on 29 January 2010

    this book is cool

13. jellyjelly
    on 18 July 2009

    the book of tiddler is very intresting and amazing it shows you diffret fishes .

    5 out of 5

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