Julia Donaldson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Julia Donaldson CBE
Julia Donaldson at the 2011 Berlin International Literature Festival
Born	Julia Catherine Shields (1948-09-16) 16 September 1948 (age 76) Hampstead, London, England
Occupation	Writer, playwright
Alma mater	University of Bristol
Period	1993–present
Genre	Children's fiction, drama, and songs (retail and schools markets)
Notable works	The Gruffalo Room on the Broom Stick Man
Spouse	Malcolm Donaldson ​ ​ (m. 1972; died 2024)​
Children	3 (1 deceased)

Julia Catherine Donaldson (born 16 September 1948) is a famous English writer and playwright. She was also the Children's Laureate from 2011 to 2013. She is best known for her fun rhyming stories for children. Many of these stories are illustrated by Axel Scheffler. Some of her most popular books include The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, and Stick Man.

Julia Donaldson first wrote songs for children's TV shows. But in 1993, the words from one of her songs, "A Squash and a Squeeze," were turned into a children's book. After that, she focused more on writing books. She has published 184 works. Many of these are popular books you can find in shops. Others are for schools, like her "Songbirds" reading program. In January 2025, Julia Donaldson became Britain's top-selling author! She sold about 600,000 more books than J.K. Rowling.

Life and Career

Growing Up in London

Julia Donaldson grew up in Hampstead, London, with her younger sister, Mary. Their family lived in a big Victorian house near Hampstead Heath. Her parents, James (known as Jerry) and Elizabeth, met before World War II. Jerry was a prisoner of war and used his German language skills as an interpreter. Elizabeth also spoke German well and worked for the navy during the war.

After the war, they got married and bought the house with other family members. When Julia was six, her father got polio. This meant he used a wheelchair, but he still lived a very active life. He worked at the Maudsley Hospital, studying genetics. Julia's mother worked part-time and helped translate German songs. Their home was full of music and singing. Julia's father played the cello, and her parents were part of a music club.

Poetry was also important in Julia's childhood. Her father gave her a book of a thousand poems when she was five. Her grandmother taught her about Edward Lear's funny rhymes. Julia went to New End Primary School and then Camden School for Girls. As a child, she loved acting and singing. She even learned to play the piano. She was good at languages, learning French, German, and Italian.

University Days

Julia studied Drama and French at Bristol University from 1967 to 1970. There, she acted in plays and learned to play the guitar. In 1968, she met Malcolm Donaldson, a medical student who also played guitar. They started singing together in pubs.

In 1969, Julia and a friend went to Paris for six months as part of their degree. They sang and played guitar for money in cafes. Malcolm joined them later, and the three of them performed songs by the Beatles. They even slept in a campsite and a field, becoming good friends. Julia and Malcolm started dating in December 1969. They performed at university events and even busked (played music for money) in America. Julia wrote songs especially for these shows.

Starting a Career

In the 1970s, Julia and Malcolm continued to busk in Europe during holidays. Julia wrote songs in French and Italian for their performances. Julia worked as a secretary and editor at different publishers in London and Brighton. On weekends, she and Malcolm were part of the Bristol Street Theatre. This group performed simple plays in playgrounds and invited children to join in. This experience greatly influenced how Julia would later interact with children at her own shows.

Julia and Malcolm got married in September 1972. Julia even wrote a mini-opera for their wedding reception! She later worked at Radio Bristol, where she produced short stories. From 1974 to 1978, she regularly wrote songs for BBC Children's Television shows like Play Away and Play School. Some of her songs were even recorded for BBC albums.

Julia and Malcolm also performed comedy songs at folk clubs in Brighton. Many of these songs were written by Julia. They even released a vinyl album called First Fourteen in 1977. Julia also wrote two musicals for children, King Grunt's Cake (1976) and Pirate on the Pier (1980). She performed these shows in London and Brighton. From 1974 to 1976, Julia ran a Saturday morning workshop for children. They would create plays, make costumes, and perform them.

In 1977, Julia became an English teacher at St Mary's Hall in Brighton. But she stopped working full-time after her first son, Hamish, was born in 1978. The family moved to Lyon, France, for a year, then returned to Brighton, where their second son, Alastair, was born in 1981.

New Ideas and The Gruffalo

In 1983, the family moved to Bristol. Julia's TV writing had slowed down. She volunteered at Hamish's primary school, helping children read. She created short plays with different parts for reading groups. This helped children feel more confident reading aloud. Julia kept these plays, thinking they might be useful later. In 1989, the family moved to Bearsden, Scotland, after their third son, Jerry, was born in 1987.

In Glasgow, Julia started writing songs for the BBC again. Then, in 1991, something big happened. A publisher asked if the words of her song "A Squash and a Squeeze" could be made into a picture book. The book came out in 1993, with pictures by Axel Scheffler. This was a turning point for Julia. It made her realize she could write stories from her songs. It also gave her the confidence to send her school plays to a publisher. Between 1993 and 1999, she wrote many plays and retold traditional tales for schools. She also started visiting schools and libraries in Scotland, sometimes with Malcolm and his guitar.

How The Gruffalo Was Born

In 1995, Julia found an old Chinese story about a girl who tricks a tiger. The tiger thinks the girl is scary because other animals run away from her. Julia thought this could be a great picture book. She changed the girl to a mouse and the jungle animals to woodland creatures like a fox, owl, and snake. But she wasn't happy with the story.

Then, she had an idea for a monster whose name ended in "O." She thought "Gr" sounded fierce, and "uffal" made it "Gruffalo." It sounded like a buffalo but much scarier! Writing The Gruffalo was still hard. But her son Alastair encouraged her. She decided the monster should be something the Mouse makes up to scare off the other animals, but then it turns out to be real! Another son, Jerry, asked a good question: "Why don't the fox, owl, and snake just eat the mouse?" Julia solved this by adding lines where the Mouse says the Gruffalo's favorite food is "roasted fox" or "owl ice cream."

The Gruffalo was sent to a publisher in 1995. Julia sent the story to Axel Scheffler, who she had only met briefly. Soon after, Macmillan Children's Books offered to publish The Gruffalo. It was illustrated by Scheffler and came out in 1999.

After The Gruffalo

The Gruffalo was a huge hit! It won many awards and has been translated into over 50 languages. More than 10 million copies have been sold worldwide. It has even been made into stage shows and films. After The Gruffalo, Julia and Axel Scheffler created many more popular books together. These include Monkey Puzzle (2000), Room on the Broom (2001), The Smartest Giant in Town (2002), The Snail and the Whale (2003), The Gruffalo's Child (2004), and Charlie Cook's Favourite Book (2005). They continued to create many more beloved books like Stick Man (2008) and Zog (2010).

Julia has also worked with other talented illustrators like Lydia Monks and David Roberts. Lydia Monks illustrated the Princess Mirror-Belle series. These books are for 7- to 10-year-olds and are about a boastful girl who is the mirror image of an ordinary girl named Ellen. The idea for Mirror-Belle came from Hamish's imaginary childhood friend.

Julia also wrote The Giants and the Joneses for older children (8–12 years). Her book for teenagers, Running on the Cracks, is set in Glasgow. It's about a 15-year-old girl named Leo who is looking for her father's family. This book won an award in 2011 for how it showed a character dealing with mental health challenges.

Julia has also written a reading program called "Songbird Phonics." It has 60 short stories published by Oxford University Press. When Julia performs for the public, she often acts out her stories and sings songs from her albums. She loves to get the audience involved, inviting children (and sometimes parents!) on stage to act out parts. Malcolm Donaldson, her husband, almost always joins her. She has performed her books in English and German, even touring in other countries like New Zealand, Australia, and America.

Children's Laureate

In 2011, Julia Donaldson was chosen as the Children's Laureate. This is a special role given to a writer or illustrator to promote children's literature. Julia wanted to encourage children to perform poetry, plays, and readings. She believes this helps children love books and reading. She created a series of "Plays to Read" for classrooms. She also put together a book of "Poems to Perform."

As Laureate, Julia strongly supported libraries. She wrote articles and met with government officials. In 2012, she and Malcolm went on a six-week tour of libraries across the UK. At each library, children performed short plays or songs. This tour celebrated libraries as important places, especially when many were at risk of closing.

Personal Life

Julia Donaldson has a type of hearing loss that makes it hard to hear some speech and music. She often uses lip-reading to help. Her husband, Malcolm Donaldson, was a children's doctor. They lived in Bearsden, Scotland, and later moved to Steyning, England. They had three sons: Hamish, Alastair, and Jerry. Their eldest son, Hamish, sadly passed away at a young age in 2003. Julia has said he inspired some of her imaginative writing. Her son Alastair is a professor at Imperial College London. Alastair and his wife, Chris, sometimes join Julia at her performances with their children, Poppy and Felix. Malcolm passed away in September 2024, after 52 years of marriage to Julia.

Charity Work

Julia Donaldson supports several charities. She is a patron of ArtLink Central, which helps artists work in communities that need support. She also supports Bookbug, a program in Scotland that gives free books to young children. This encourages parents to read with their kids from birth. Julia is also a patron of Storybook Dads. This charity helps prisoners record themselves reading bedtime stories for their children. This helps them stay connected with their kids. She also supports Monmouth's Savoy Cinema.

Awards and Honours

Julia Donaldson has received many awards for her contributions to literature. She was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 2011 and a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019. She has also received honorary degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of Glasgow.

Here are some of the awards her books have won:

• 1999 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award): The Gruffalo
• 2000 Blue Peter Best Book to Read Aloud: The Gruffalo
• 2002 Sheffield Book Award: Room on the Broom
• 2003 Red House Children's Book Award: The Smartest Giant in Town
• 2004 Book Trust Early Years Award: The Snail and the Whale
• 2005 British Book Awards: The Gruffalo's Child
• 2009 NASEN Book Awards: Running on the Cracks
• 2010 Galaxy Book Award: Zog
• 2011 Stockport Book Award: What the Ladybird Heard
• 2012 Stockport Book Awards: Jack and the Flumflum Tree

Works

See also

In Spanish: Julia Donaldson para niños