A mouse is taking a stroll through the deep, dark wood when along comes a hungry fox, then an owl, and then a snake.

The mouse is good enough to eat but smart enough to know this, so he invents . . . the gruffalo!

As Mouse explains, the gruffalo is a creature with terrible claws, and terrible tusks in its terrible jaws, and knobbly knees and turned-out toes, and a poisonous wart at the end of its nose. But Mouse has no worry to show. After all, there’s no such thing as a gruffalo. . . .

The Gruffalo is a British children's picture book by writer and playwright Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, that tells the story of a mouse, the protagonist of the book, taking a walk in the woods. The book has sold over 13 million copies,has won several prizes for children's literature, and has been developed into plays on both the West End and Broadway and even an Oscar nominated animated film.