The Snail and the Whale

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The Snail and the Whale is a heart-warming story about how friendship can come about in the most remarkable way.

While I agree that The Gruffalo is undeniably a fantastic children's book, The Snail and the Whale is by far my favourite of Donaldson's. I found my nursery class on SEB absolutely adored this book and I ended up reading it to at least 2 of them in the book corner every day!Description: A half hour animated film for all the family based on the much-loved book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. I decided to write a sea story because Axel had previously told me he was getting fed up drawing trees and stormy skies (although actually there is one stormy sky in the book). I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. The whale sang a song to the snail. Could you write the words to the song or make up a tune for it? 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 Snail and the Whale is a 2003 children's picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It won the 2004 Early Years award for the best pre-school book, the 2005 Blue Peter award for Best Book to Read Aloud, and the 2007 Giverny award for Best Science Picture Book. The Snail and the Whale has also been adapted into an unabridged audiobook, a stage play and translated into British Sign Language. In 2019, a short film based on the book was released. And she gazed at the sky, the sea, the land, The waves and the caves and the golden sand, She gazed and gazed, amazed by it all, And she said to the whale, “I feel so small.” These are the caves Beneath the waves, Where stripy fish with featery fins And sharks with hideous toothy grins Swam round the whale And the snail on his tail.They sailed to towering icebergs and far off lands, fiery mountains and golden sands and all the while the waves arched and crashed around them but the snail remained safe on the tail of the whale. When they went underwater the snail was still safe and she was much admired by passing stripy fish and sharks with hideous grins. The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson is a fantastically written story which outlines the random travels of an unlikely duo. Through Axel Scheffler's use of colourful illustrations, the catchy rhyming and alliterations throughout the story, we get to see all of the places that the pair encountered on their travels, including the "towering iceberg", "far-away lands" and " golden sands".