Do you remember the Grug stories from your childhood? We’re long-time fans, so we’re very excited that two brand new adventures have just been released: Grug Gets Lost and Grug Meets a Dinosaur.
The first Grug books were published in the late 1970s and there are now over thirty stories available!
Each book is very short (perfect for just a quick bedtime read), with an easy-to-follow story and bright illustrations.
Grug himself looks a bit like a stripey haystack with eyes, a mouth and a very oversized nose.
It’s amazing how expressive that face can be! And how much kid-appeal he has.
So, what kind of a creature is Grug? Well,
‘Once the top of a Burrawang tree fell to the ground …
and the grassy top began to change. It became Grug.’
Author-illustrator Ted Prior has also worked as a police officer and art teacher as well as in children’s TV and animation. He created Grug when his children were very young: he wanted to come up with their own imaginary bush animal and write a story about it.
Why we love these two new adventures:
Set in the Australian bush, each of these stories puts Grug in a tricky situation which leads to a brief, exciting climax and then a reassuring resolution
The illustrations are bright and very simple – beginner readers will enjoy retelling the story through the pictures. And in each book there is a little something we can spot in an image that Grug can’t: who was it who took some food from Grug’s basket, and where is the goanna? Kids love knowing more about what’s happening in a story than the characters do!
The stories are short (parent-friendly for bedtime!) and they’re also very well-priced.
In Grug Gets Lost, Grug takes a detour on the way home from shopping. He finds himself somewhere unfamiliar and a little bit frightening. But after a nap, everything is OK again. We like the gentle message that things often seem better after you sleep on them!
There’s a fast-paced chase and a little bit of slapstick in Grug Meets a Dinosaur, as Grug mistakes a goanna for a fearsome prehistoric creature and tries to run away. The overly friendly goanna ends up on his head!
We recommend Grug for reading with kids of around 2+. The series is also great for Kinder and Year 1 classrooms.
Buy the books: Grug Gets Lost, Grug Meets a Dinosaur
Visit Grug’s website.
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