Axel Scheffler is the illustrator of The Gruffalo, a worldwide publishing phenomenon, now with a TV film and its own range of Gruffalo merchandise.
Axel was born in Hamburg, Germany and although he was always good at art, he never really considered a career in illustration. He moved to England where he began illustrating for a variety of English and German advertising companies, magazines and newspapers and then moved into illustrating children’s books. He was recommended as the illustrator for a book by Julia Donaldson, and an award-winning team was created.
Their next book, The Gruffalo, was published in March 1999 and has already become a modern classic, selling more than 4 million copies worldwide and translated into 40 languages, winning the Smarties Gold Medal Award for picture books and the Blue Peter Award for The Best Book to Read Aloud.
It was followed by many children’s favourites including Monkey Puzzle, Room on the Broom, The Smartest Giant in Town, The Snail and the Whale and The Gruffalo’s Child, the long-awaited sequel to The Gruffalo, amongst many others.
