The Baddies: a wickedly funny picture book from the creators of The Gruffalo

Product Information

Brief summary: A troll, ghost, and witch are baddies who enjoy being bad and bragging about it. A girl moves into a nearby cottage. The baddies devise different ways to scare her but are unsuccessful as she shows them kindness and understanding. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. First sentence: There once lived a troll and a ghost and a witch. They were horrible baddies all three. They never said sorry or thank you or please, and their hearts were as hard as could be.

The Baddies by Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler | Waterstones The Baddies by Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler | Waterstones

You have to understand that when I see a new Julia Donaldson picture book, I'm am fully prepared to be blown away by her story. The woman is a genius!!! A great little book from the author of The Gruffalo. A group of monsters try to take on a clever young girl and all of them fail. In her latest book The Baddies, she uses her signature style in a hilarious fashion. The Baddies are the meanest and scariest witch, ghost and troll in the land. It is each their goal to be the nastiest and often fight over who is the worst. So when a little girl moves in nearby they just can't wait to terrorise and scare her but what they don't know is this isn't any ordinary little girl. She teaches them you don't have to be big and bad to be brave and that baddies hardly ever win.

Christmas Cards & Gift Wrap

Premise/plot: Three villains or "baddies" scheme to steal a little girl's handkerchief. Will any of them succeed? Your child will giggle their way through this comic tale of three very bad, silly, and completely hopeless storybook characters who dare each other to steal a hanky-chief from a young girl walking through their woods. I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books.

The Baddies By Julia Donaldson |The Works The Baddies By Julia Donaldson |The Works

The Baddies are the meanest, nastiest ghost, witch and troll in the land. They just adore being bad, and fight over who is the worst.Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta. One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. Captivating, full of opportunities for giggles and even a story for the bigger children… (yes adults that’s you!)

The Baddies - Julia Donaldson The Baddies - Julia Donaldson

I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.

Toys

Of course, the little mouse saves the day and rids the woods of our pesky villains, and we all sleep more soundly at night. The latest offering from the A Team in picture books - Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. This one focuses on a trios of 'baddies' who aren't really good at being bad. They try their best but it's just not good (or bad) enough. The girl in the story is either unaware or just not at all bothered by their attempts to scare her. Instead, the Baddies all just look rather ridiculous. When a little girl moves into a nearby cottage, the Baddies can’t wait to scare her out of her wits. With Julia Donaldson’s (author of The Gruffalo) trademark quirky humour and rhyming text and Axel Scheffler’s detailed illustrations, there are lots of fun things to spot as you read and reread the text.