Frances Bennett, seven
"[The new book] was great. I like both Gruffalo books the same amount. The story is easy to understand and I like the pictures. The idea of the book is the best thing - the Big Bad Mouse and the silly Gruffalo. It is good to read about the baby Gruffalo; he hadn't been born in the first book. I also enjoyed Room on the Broom (by the same author), which I thought was fantastically funny. I liked reading the first Gruffalo book on my own, but it is also fun to read with other people.
I think the mouse is really clever when he tricks the baby Gruffalo.
The colours in the pictures are very good - I like how they use pink on the Gruffalo - just like in the first book - it is clever how they have recreated it so accurately. The baby Gruffalo is very inquisitive and pretty brave to go out on his own when his father is asleep but he is also quite naughty. I would advise the Gruffalo to look up next time."
Lola and Scarlet Katz Roberts, age five and three quarters
Lola was a keen fan of the first Gruffalo book. "I liked it with the Gruffalo and the funny words," she says. Although she can now read "short words like three or four letters, like usual words" on her own, the Gruffalo books are something she enjoys having read to her "sometimes by mummy and daddy, sometimes by somebody else". So how does she think the new book compares with the first? "I thought it was very good. I liked it when the big Gruffalo told the story about the mouse. The other bit I liked was when the mouse scared the little Gruffalo." On balance, Lola preferred the second book to the first, "because it's good, the bit when the Gruffalo told the little Gruffalo what the mouse did to him. That's the best bit."
Lola's twin sister, Scarlet, "liked the pictures" in the second book, but was less impressed by the rhymes. "Some of them had rude words in them." Asked what sort of rude words, she says: "I don't really know." Her favourite bit in the second book - at the risk of ruining it for anyone who has not yet read it - was "when the mouse went in the shadow of the moonlight and then held a nut up and his shadow went in the moonlight and it looked like a rat was showing and the little Gruffalo ran away."
Catriona and Miranda Smith, age two and five
Catriona, at two-and-a-half years of age our youngest reviewer, can recite large chunks of the first Gruffalo book and loves listening to the tape of it. She is thrilled to get a first glimpse of the new Gruffalo book, although when interviewed on the phone afterwards becomes confused by the limitations of the technogy in use and attempts to show pictures from the book to the mobile, rather than actually speaking into it. After some prompting, she says: "I like the Gruffalo. I Iike the baby."
Catriona's sister Miranda, five, says she prefers the second book to the first. "I like seeing the Gruffalo at the beginning of the book. In the first book you have to wait until the end." She also prefers the Gruffalo having a companion, as he does in the second book. "I liked it better than the first one because I liked the baby Gruffalo. In the first one the Gruffalo was probably lonely because he didn't have anyone to play with and stuff, and now he does have the baby."
Sean Clare, seven
"[The new book] was good and I really liked it - it was very funny. I thought the picture on the cover was funny as the Gruffalo and the baby Gruffalo are sitting on the tree stump and someone has drawn a picture of a mouse on the rock next to them. I also like how the big Gruffalo has a wart on his nose and the baby one doesn't. I'm not sure if you would understand this book if you hadn't read the first one, as the story carries on from there. I will probably read the book again later today after I have played tennis.
In this one, the child Gruffalo didn't listen to his dad - he's a little bit like me - although I don't go wandering off. This book taught me not to go in the woods on my own and to listen to my parents. The mouse tricks people and is clever and sneaky."
Oscar Warr, three, and his brother Jacob, five
Oscar and Jacob are both ardent fans of the first Gruffalo book, although their mother says that three-year-old Oscar is not quite old enough to fully understand the story. After poring over the new book, Jacob says he prefers it to the first because "it's snowy in the book. I think it's Christmas there, but Oscar thinks it's just snowy". He approves of the new story: "I liked it when the baby Gruffalo thought the nut was a big boulder" - and also of the new pictures, particularly the bit where "the baby Gruffalo draws the animals he meets on the wall of the cave."
Oscar, however, prefers the first book: "The old one had a mouse." When his mother, Suzanne, points out that the new book has a mouse too, Oscar says: "I liked the horrible mouse pictures." Later Suzanne says: "What Oscar said to me was that he thought the new one was a bit scary because it had a Gruffalo and a baddie mouse in it, but he also said it's not real."
Emily and Lucy Seager, age 10 and seven
Emily says: " I loved [the new book]. I liked that there were the same animals and stuff in this one as in the first book. I liked it when the mouse stood on the tree at the end and tricked the Gruffalo child. It was fun to read and I didn't get bored - I loved the rhyming too, which made me want to read on.
I read the first book between five and seven times - I think this one is slightly better because it has got a child in it. I like it when he leaves his dad - I'm not allowed to do that - and he runs away. The mouse follows the baby Gruffalo home to make sure he is safe. I also like how the same rhymes are used in this one as in the first book - it makes it seem familar and I like that.
I've read some other books by this author, including Room on the Broom, but I prefer the Gruffalo ones."
Lucy says: " I've read the first Gruffalo book lots of times. The new one is really good - the mouse is still in it, which made me 100% sure that I would enjoy it.
I like how the author has turned things upside down completely in this book; in the first one the mouse was looking for the Gruffalo and now the Gruffalo child is looking for the mouse.
I think I will read this one over and over again, like I did the first one. I have also read Monkey Puzzle [by the same author]."
Fearghal Hughes, seven
"I read the first Gruffalo book and enjoyed it and I liked this one too. I like how the pictures are so detailed. I belong to the Gruffalo club so got some Gruffalo things through the post today, including a cookie cutter; they also tell you about new books coming out.
My favourite animal in this book is the fox, because he is cat-like and we have just got a new cat. I read the first book about 10 or 11 times and I'm sure that I'll read this one as many times. This one teaches you not to go out on your own and not to talk to strangers."
· Interviews by Emily Wilson and Lucy Clouting
· The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is published by Macmillan. To order a copy for £8.99 plus p&p (RRP £10.99), call the Guardian Book Service on 0870 836 0875.
