the gruffalo and me the remarkable julia donaldson

'When I think of just how successful it has been,' he says in his perfect, whispered English, trying to find an uncluttered space for us to sit, 'it almost scares me. One that hangs on for dear life to a corner of his overflowing desk is the just-published Iranian version of the tome that will ensure his drawings will live on forever. A breakfast bowl full of freshly brewed coffee in his hands, he shows me into his studio, which is strewn with notebooks, pens and papers, oozing paint tubes, bits of old newspaper, and at least one stuffed Gruffalo toy, alongside piles and piles of books. Scheffler lives and works in a small, triumphantly messy flat in Blackheath, south London, which he shares with his French partner, and their two-year-old daughter. So, yes, it probably is the best one, isn't it?' 'I suppose I have to admit that I probably think The Gruffalo is. Her answer, when it comes, is quietly resigned.

So which of her books would she have rather had this remarkable success with? She thinks about this for quite a while, and her frown deepens. But many of my books, you know, have sold just as well.' They've all shifted a whopping four million copies? 'Well, no, maybe not,' she reluctantly concedes, 'but many of them are hot on the heels.' The Gruffalo seems to overshadow everything else I do, at least in the media. 'Imagine if you had written an article 10 long years ago, and all everyone ever wanted to do was keep on bringing it up, even though you had written lots of perfectly good articles since. So I'm not learning anything new, am I?' She frowns. But all the things I keep talking about these days I've heard myself talk about before. 'No, I don't really resent it because – well, let's face it, I think any author would love to have some iconic character they can pin everything else on.

The gruffalo and me the remarkable julia donaldson