‘Gruffalo’ creators Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler bring you ‘The Baddies’

Illustrations © Axel Scheffler

Frog and Toad, George and Martha, Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat: iconic duos abound in children’s literature. Another classic pair? Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

They are the brains behind dozens of picture books including Room on the Broom, Tabby McTat and, of course, The Gruffalo. One of their latest books together is The Baddies — about a witch, a troll and a ghost who like being bad.

When a little girl moves into a nearby cottage, the three baddies are practically giddy. They decide to compete to see who can steal the little girl’s blue hanky.

“It should be funny and they shouldn’t be too scary,” says Axel Scheffler of the three baddies. “They’re really ridiculous.”

The ghost tries to scare the little girl in her bedroom — she offers him a warm bath and a cup of tea.

The troll tries to frighten the little girl off a bridge — and falls in.

The witch casts a spell to magic the hanky out of the little girl’s pocket — and gets a piece of string and a toffee instead.

One thing Donaldson and Scheffler understand after all these years is that kids like to be scared — just not too much.

“You don’t want to traumatize children,” says Scheffler, “and the books always have a happy end.”

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler started working together more than 30 years ago, on A Squash and a Squeeze. Donaldson had written the story as a song when she was in her 20s — years later she got a call from a publisher who wanted to turn the song into a children’s book. She was paired up with Scheffler for the illustrations. Their second book together was The Gruffalo.

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