Celebrating 43 Years of an Aussie Icon: Discover the Grug Series by Ted Prior

Who doesn’t love Ted Prior’s Grug series? There’s just something about seeing this friendly little stack of hay take on life’s everyday challenges that makes you think, If he can do it, I can too!

Grug first captured the hearts of Australian kids and parents way back in 1979, with the publication of the original Grug story. Since then, Prior has gifted us with 35 original Grug adventures, somehow managing to transcend generational fluctuations in style and taste. We know the BR Kids readers love the series – it’s been voted onto the BR Top 50 Kids’ Books year after year.

It’s hard to put a number on just how many copies have been sold since then, as publishing stats have only been tracked and widely available since 2009. But we know for sure the figure is over 1,080,360… in Australia alone!

To indulge our nostalgia, we’ve pulled together some Grug-themed trivia:

• Grug is a Burrawang Tree (there always seems to be confusion about this)
• Every book starts with the iconic quote: “Once the top of a Burrawang tree fell to the ground… and the grassy top began to change. It became Grug.”
• Grug was a category on Hard Quiz in 2021
• Grug celebrated his 40th anniversary in 2019
• Grug books have been adapted for theatre twice, as Grug and Grug and the Rainbow
• The New York Times once described Grug as “the Elmo of down under”

He may be fun, quirky and even a little baffling, but Grug has an important message to spread. In a recent Q&A with Prior, the author-illustrator informed us that his “greatest wish… is that everyone, in some way, will revere the natural world.” Grug definitely encourages us to see the world around us in this way.

If you’re looking to get your little ones started on Grug, you can’t go past the original story (now available in hardback format). Or, you could go with the most recent title, Grug and the Bushfire, published in 2020, which was inspired by Prior’s real-life experiences. Like many of the 35 classic Grug titles, this book takes a potentially overwhelming topic and makes it approachable for young readers.

I’d also highly recommend Grug Has a Birthday, which we celebrated back in 2019 along with the series’ 40th anniversary. Grug’s birthday is traditionally celebrated in July, but the best thing about birthday parties with Grug is that they can really be any day of the year! Rainy day at home? Birthday party! Long day at school? Birthday party! Feeling uninspired? Birthday party! Get your Grug-inspired celebrations started with these activity downloads.

With its iconic Australian backdrop and longstanding history as a national treasure, Grug also makes a great gift for international friends and relatives!

You will be reading these books over and over. They will become firm favourites with your little readers, so expect to become very familiar with this Aussie icon. It’s a good thing he’s so cute.

Buy a copy of Grug Has a Birthday here.

Buy a copy of Grug and the Bushfire here. 

Buy a copy of Grug here.