The Gruffalo family has a new member — and Gruffalo Granny is breaking book sale records

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LISTEN | Interview with children’s book author Julia Donaldson:

As It Happens5:56Gruffalo Granny is breaking book sales records 26 years after The Gruffalo hit shelves

When Julia Donaldson first wrote the beloved children’s book The Gruffalo more than two decades ago, she didn’t have high hopes for it.

“I didn’t think it would get published, let alone be a hit,” Donaldson told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.

At the time, it seemed a bit dark for children’s literature, with its story of a wily mouse spinning yarns about a horrible monster to avoid getting gobbled up by predators in “the deep, dark woods.”

Not to mention, rhyming stories weren’t in fashion in 1999, Donaldson says.

“So it rather broke the mould, I think,” Donaldson said.

Now, 26 years after The Gruffalo became a surprise smash, Donaldson and her illustrating partner, Axel Scheffler, are back with Gruffalo Granny, the third — and likely final — installment in the beloved franchise after 2004’s The Gruffalo’s Child.

“I don’t think I will write another Gruffalo book,” she said.

Granny has an ‘enormous appetite’

The new book follows the original Gruffalo and his child preparing a feast to welcome Gruffalo Granny, who is coming to visit, and is known to have “enormous appetite.” The storytelling mouse from the first book once again finds itself on the menu.

The process of writing Gruffalo Granny felt much the same as writing The Gruffalo 26 years ago, says Donaldson.

“I don’t really think about the readers very much. I just think about the story itself,” she said. “When I’m writing the book, yeah, I’m totally just fixated on wanting it to be as good to my mind, really, as it can be.”

Children's book cover featuring an illustration of three smiling, horned monsters: One is tall and dark brown, one is tiny and light brown, and one is all gray with a walking stick. The title reads: Gruffalo Granny. — Gruffalo Granny is the third installment in the beloved children’s book franchise about monsters in the ‘deep, dark woods.’ (Pan Macmillan/Publishers Group Canada)

But releasing and promoting this latest installment has been a whole different ballgame, she said.

“It has been a bit on a whole different scale,” she said. “It has been amazing, actually.”

The publisher, Pan Macmillan, introduced Gruffalo Granny’s character by projecting an illustration onto the British Library in London in early September.

After just 10 days on sale, it became the U.K.’s biggest-selling book of 2026, of any genre, for any age group, according to NielsenIQ BookScan’s Official Top 50.

“We’ve been taking all the adult books, which is very satisfying,” Donaldson said.

With 227,169 copies sold in its first three days, it’s also the U.K.’s fastest-selling picture book ever recorded, according to the publisher.

“It’s a testament to the enduring magic Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler create together, and to how loved this family of characters is,” Alison Ruane, managing director of Macmillan Children’s Books said in a press release.

“Adults who grew up with the original Gruffalo are now reading Gruffalo Granny to their own children, and there are many stories of grandparents buying it for their grandchildren, too. We’re so proud to be part of it.”

A smiling gray-haired woman in a blue floral blouse poses next to a white-haired man in a salmon-coloured button-down. — Children’s book author Julia Donaldson, left, and illustrator Axel Scheffler are the creative team behind the Gruffalo books. (Urszula Soltys/Publishers Group Canada)

While Donaldson believes her time with the Gruffalo family is over, her career as a children’s writer is most certainly not. Her next book, Winnifred Duck, will hit shelves early next year,

Illustrated by Jim Fields, it’s based on the true story of a cargo ship container that hit a patch of rough weather in the North Pacific and dumped 28,000 rubber ducks bound for China into the ocean. Those toys washed later up on shores all over the world, teaching scientists valuable lessons about ocean currents.

“As soon as I heard that story, I thought, right, I’m going to write a book about that,” Donaldson said.