Sharing a Shell Award-winning team by Julia Donaldson (author) and Lydia Monks (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.”

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What kids think

1. Boardy
   on 30 March 2016

   This is mine and my daughters absolute favourite book to read together and my three year old knows all the words. It’s a lovely book, really bright and colourful with a great story and a lovely rhythm. We love love love it

   5 out of 5

2. Cheerforevers
   on 9 March 2014

   This is about a hermit crab who finds himself a brand new shell and he loves it!

3. lmdrld
   on 6 March 2013

   This is about some sea creatures having to share a shell.

4. lids
   on 2 March 2012

   i read it when i was younger it is really bad!!!!!!!!!!

5. flapper1309
   on 28 February 2009

   hello xxx this is flapper1309 how is everbody i hope you are ok?? love yoy loads xxxxxxx

   5 out of 5

6. gossipqueen09
   on 10 November 2008

   Even though I haven’t read this book I thought that the cover was realy eye-catching with bright colours and that it can teach young children about fish there names and there habitat. I also thought that this book is probably in my opinion this book is quite good and that the auther is excellent at writing books.

7. BALL
   on 14 September 2008

   this is a very very good book for the ages 1+ you should read this book!!! if you don’t read this book then you will be sorry.

   5 out of 5

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