[ 책 소개 ]

* Smarties Book Prize Gold Award 수상도서
* Blue Peter prize for Best Book to Read Aloud 수상도서
* Experian Big Three Award 수상도서


전 세계 72개국에서 번역서가 출간되어 1200만부 이상이 판매된 세계적인 베스트셀러입니다.

생쥐 한마리가 숲속으로 먹이를 찾으러 갔어요. 도중에 생쥐를 보고 군침을 흘리는 여우 한 마리를 만났죠. 생쥐는 위기를 벗어나기 위해 그루팔로라는 괴물을 곧 만날 것이라고 둘러댑니다. 그루팔로가 가장 좋아하는 음식은 여우구이 요리라는 말도 빼놓지 않았죠. 여우는 줄행랑을 칩니다. 또 가다가 올빼미와 뱀을 만났지만 같은 방법으로 위기를 모면했지요. 그런데 이게 웬 일? 가상의 괴물인 그루팔로가 정말 숲속에서 불쑥 나타난 것이예요. 놀란 생쥐는 가슴을 진정하고는 역시 재치를 발휘해서 그루팔로를 쫓아 버린답니다.

재미있고 유쾌한 이야기입니다. Rhyme으로 되어 있는 쉬운 문장은 아이들에게 읽어 주기도 어렵지 않습니다. 물론 그림도 재미있고 예쁘답니다.

이솝우화를 연상시키는 줄거리에 쉽게 읽히는 리듬감 있는 문체, 선명한 색채로 표현된 수채화 풍의 그림은 이 책의 재미와 매력을 더해줍니다.






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Edition: Paperback(32 pages)
ISBN-10: 0142403873
ISBN-13: 978-0142403877
책 크기: 27 cm x 21.5 cm



[ 영문 서평 ]

Book Description
When Mouse takes a stroll through the woods, he meets a fox, an owl, and a snake who all want to eat him! So Mouse invents a gruffalo, a monster with "terrible tusks and terrible claws, terrible teeth, and terrible jaws." But will Mouse's frightful description be enough to scare off his foes? After all, there's no such thing as a gruffalo . . . is there?Sturdy pages and a cozy trim make this rhyming read-aloud perfect for preschoolers. Winner of the prestigious British Smarties Prize.


Publisher's Weekly
The eponymous character introduced by this British team owes a large debt to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. When Mouse meets Fox in the "deep dark wood," he invents a story about the gruffalo, described very much like Sendak's fearsome quartet of wild things--"He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws." The gullible fox runs away when Mouse tells him that the gruffalo's favorite food is roasted fox. "Silly old Fox!" says Mouse, "Doesn't he know?/ There's no such thing as a gruffalo!" Owl and Snake follow suit until, with a turn of the page, Mouse runs into the creature he has imagined. Quick-thinking Mouse then tells the monster, "I'm the scariest creature in this deep dark wood./ Just walk behind me and soon you'll see,/ Everyone for miles is afraid of me." Fox, Owl and Snake appear to be terrified of the tiny mouse, but readers can plainly see the real object of their fears. By story's end, the gruffalo flees, and Mouse enjoys his nut lunch in peace. Despite the derivative plot line, debut author Donaldson manipulates the repetitive language and rhymes to good advantage, supplying her story with plenty of scary-but-not-too-scary moments. Scheffler's gruffalo may seem a goofy hybrid of Max's wild things, but his cartoonlike illustrations build suspense via spot-art previews of the monster's orange eyes, black tongue and purple prickles until the monster's appearance in full.


Children's Literature
The little mouse fools his enemies with tales of his friend, the gruffalo. What is a gruffalo? When a fox comes along who thinks the mouse looks tasty, a gruffalo is a creature with terrible tusks, claws and jaws whose favorite delicacy is roasted fox. When an owl swoops down because the mouse looks good, a gruffalo is a monster with knobbly knees, turned-out toes and a wart on his nose who loves owl ice cream. When a snake slithers through the wood and wants to feast on the mouse, a gruffalo is a fearsome thing with orange eyes, black tongue and prickles on his back that has an appetite for scrambled snake. The mouse laughs at his enemies for believing there is such a thing as a gruffalo until he himself encounters the huge beast. Indeed, there is such a thing as a gruffalo and now the mouse must be smart enough to fool his biggest enemy! The illustrations are grand, especially the uprooted tree trunk which looks just like a monstrous claw reaching out from the wood.


School Library Journal
To save himself from being eaten by a fox, an owl, and a snake, an enterprising mouse declares that he is having lunch with a monster whose favorite food just happens to be the animal who is at that moment threatening him. With each telling, the gruffalo becomes more menacing until all of the rodent's tormentors leave him unharmed. The mouse scoffs at them, for everyone knows "There's no such thing as a gruffal...." But a turn of the page reveals-you guessed it-a gruffalo, that thinks the mouse will "...taste good on a slice of bread." Undaunted, the rodent devises a plan to frighten the monster off. Young readers will love the humor in this preposterous story of a trick that backfires and the way the protagonist talks himself out of his difficulties. Best of all, they will relish being in on the joke as they join in the reading of the delightfully repetitious rhyming text. Scheffler's cartoonlike illustrations, rendered in watercolor, colored pencils, and ink, are large and well paced. Facial expressions contrast the animals' alarm with the jaunty nonchalance of the mouse. The double-page spread that reveals the gruffalo-terrible claws, black tongue, poisonous wart, purple prickles, and all-is just scary enough to tickle but not frighten youngsters. Serve this one for a rollicking good time.


Kirkus Reviews
The action of this rhymed and humorous tale centers upon a mouse who "took a stroll/through the deep dark wood./A fox saw the mouse/and the mouse looked good." The mouse escapes being eaten by telling the fox that he is on his way to meet his friend the gruffalo (a monster of his imagination), whose favorite food is roasted fox. The fox beats a hasty retreat. Similar escapes are in store for an owl and a snake; both hightail it when they learn the particulars: tusks, claws, terrible jaws, eyes orange, tongue black, purple prickles on its back. When the gruffalo suddenly materializes out of the mouse's head and into the forest, the mouse has to think quick, declaring himself inedible as the "scariest creature in the deep dark wood," and inviting the gruffalo to follow him to witness the effect he has on the other creatures. When the gruffalo hears that the mouse's favorite food is gruffalo crumble, he runs away. It's a fairly innocuous tale, with twists that aren't sharp enough and treachery that has no punch. Scheffler's funny scenes prevent the suspense from culminating; all his creatures, predator and prey, are downright lovable.