The Glasgow Gruffalo: The Gruffalo in Glaswegian

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I remember that book from my own childhood, and I don't find this grating - it's sweet, it's unisex, the art style is lush and I don't mind seeing it splashed around. When Kerry told the youngster that her favourite author had seen the video, she couldn't believe it. Read More Related Articles Discover wonderful wildlife tours to book and experience in Scotland, including bird watching safaris, whale watching, farm tours and much more! 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. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading.

The Roman Antonine Wall ran through Bearsden and the well-preserved remains of a military bath house can be seen near the town centre. Julia Donaldson, the 2011-2013 Children's Laureate, is the outrageously talented, prize-winning author of the world's most-loved picture books including The Gruffalo and What the Ladybird Heard.The rhythm and rhyme is perfect - it's heavily structured, but flows naturally, so even the most stilted beadtime-story reader is guided smoothly into a sing-song cadence. The story itself is clever and fun. The art style is very modern and clean - a touch generic for me (which is why it doesn't get 5 stars) - but overall The Gruffalo is a great bedtime story, and certainly one of Fin's favourites. Bearsden started out as a small hamlet in the 17th century, but grew in the 19th century as wealthy Glasgow businessmen moved to the city's periphery and a wide selection of Victorian architecture can be seen, such as the former Schaw Convalescent Home. The author is now sending Jessica a signed copy of her book after watching the viral video herself.

He died in October 1943, aged only 45, at his parents’ home in Wilson Street, now known as the Soutar House. Soutar spent his final 13 years bed-ridden as a result of ankylosing spondylitis, a type of arthritis which causes long-term inflammation of the joints of the spine. I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books. There is vocabulary support for Shetland, Orkney and for Doric. These materials were used when Education Scotland and Into Film held Scots Language Through Film events in these areas. When it comes to accommodation in Scotland, there's a fantastic choice of amazing stays from luxury hotels to glamping getaways.I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. Julia Donaldson’s stories never fail to delight, and this picture book of The Gruffalo is one of the very best. First published in 1999, the scary gruffalo has become one of the world’s best-loved monsters, starring in films and shows galore, and inspiring a huge amount of merchandise. This is the original picture book which started it all, and which has itself won many awards, been translated into over fifty languages, and has been voted the UK’s favourite bedtime story. Sharing the video on Facebook, Elaine C Smith said: "Wonderful Jessica!! I'm delighted with this - and she reads it much better than me!! Well done Jessica and much love." Motherwell’s favourite daughter, Elaine C. Smith is one of Scotland’s most recognisable actresses and comediennes. Having made her TV debut in Naked Video, it wasn’t long before she secured a role in Rab C. Nesbitt, which would go on to be the role she is best known for. More recently Smith has continued her stage work, touring the UK with The Calendar Girls and is involved in numerous charities. She also has a weekly column in The Sunday Mail. Musical interludes across the weekend’s events will be provided by Perth-based singer and composer Debra Salem, from her album In A Sma’ Room, inspired by the poems of William Soutar.

Our events officer had mentioned to this friend how wonderful it would be to get Douglas to the festival and he offered to get in touch with him. The book is about 700 words long, and much of its charm also lies in the illustrations by Axel Scheffler. Once you’ve read it, it is impossible to imagine the gruffalo as anything else, but in fact he might have looked very different. “Our” monster is scary in a cute, dim-witted sort of way, but apparently Axel Scheffler’s first designs were of a monster who was far more frightening than the one we know. He also wondered about making the animals wear clothes, but in the end decided against it.There will also be pre-recorded live streams of readings from Scottish novelists and poets as well as events for budding writers. We might also have felt as apprehensive and scared as the animals who want to eat the mouse. We learn for instance, that the gruffalo’s favourite foods are “owl ice cream”, and “scrambled snake”. But in fact we don’t feel frightened, and we don’t even believe him! My little friend was giggling as much as I was, because:

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. Kirsty goes on: “The festival is about celebrating Scots language, literature and culture with the spirit of William Soutar bringing it all together.” A ‘fascinating man’ It begins with a simple idea, of a little brown mouse taking a walk in a “deep dark wood”. We see a lovely illustration of the deep dark wood before the story begins … and the small child I read it to thought he might just be able to spy something sinister behind the trees, although he didn’t know the story at all … So we begin: Author of 'The Glasgow version of the Gruffalo', Elaine C Smith, recorded a reading of the book yesterday, which was posted on Facebook by her daughter, Katie. Within hours the hilarious reading had gone viral, with over 9,000 likes and 27,000 shares online. Read More Related Articles Thousands of users flooded into the comments to say how much they had enjoyed it, with one user calling it "fantastic" and another "pure dead brilliant".You can find the full video of the reading of the 'Glasgow Gruffalo' here. The book itself can be found here.