The Smeds and the Smoos Early Reader Award-winning team

by Julia Donaldson (author) and Axel Scheffler (illustrator)

Format: Paperback
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Product description

Soar into space with this glorious love story of alien folk, from the creators of The Gruffalo and Stick Man, now in an early reader format to support children who are gaining confidence in reading. The Smeds (who are red) never mix with the Smoos (who are blue). So when a young Smed and Smoo fall in love, their families strongly disapprove. But peace is restored and love conquers all in this happiest of love stories. There’s even a gorgeous purple baby to celebrate!

This Early Reader edition contains the complete classic story and pictures, in a pocket-book format, and with an extra-clear font and layout, to support children who are gaining confidence in reading.
Winner at the British Book Awards 2020 – Children’s Illustrated & Non-Fiction Book of the Year
With fabulous rhymes and breathtaking illustrations, this book is literally out of this world!
From the creators of The Gruffalo, Stick Man and ZOG , which have all been made into animated films shown on BBC1
Zog and the Flying Doctors animation will be shown on BBC1 December 2020.

Praise for The Smeds and the Smoos:‘A book for our time.’BBC Radio 4‘Blast off with the most exciting book yet from the creator of The Gruffalo. Get ready for a wild and wonderful journey through space in a book that is perfect for reading together.’The Sun‘The Gruffalo team’s own Jabberwocky, with rhyme and nonsense words but a happy ending, inventively illustrated by Scheffler.’The Times‘A timely tale of tolerance that’s fun to read aloud.’Daily Express

Our September 2021 Ages 5-6 Book of the Month

This wonderful tale tells the story of two aliens, a red Smed and a blue Smoo, and conveys an important message about tolerance, avoiding preconceptions, understanding differences and building positive relationships. This edition has been specially reformatted with a child-friendly reading font to encourage fledgling readers to cut their reading teeth. I’ve chosen this as my pick of the month as it is my favourite Julia story, and one that feels especially timely and relevant and has themes of empathy, kindness, acceptance and celebrating difference. More importantly, it’s a great rhyming read that will kick-start a positive and enjoyable reading habit.

Yvonne – Book Club Editor, Ages 0–6

Product Details

Catalogue number

349 in Setanta Primary Summer 2023, 1133 in Setanta SCB Offer Feb 2023 and 345 in Setanta Primary May 2023

Format

Paperback

ISBN

9780702312489

Publisher

Alison Green Books

Date published

September 2nd, 2021

Other details

40 pages

Condition

New

Available in these packs

10books
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler Early Readers Pack

eur prices

Offer price: €55.13

Rewards/RRP: €64.87

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.