Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson CBE born Julia Catherine Shields born 16 September 1948 is an English writer playwright and performer and the 20112013 Childrens Laureate She is best known for her popular rhyming stories for children especially those illustrated by Axel Scheffler which include The Gruffalo Room on the Broom and Stick Man She originally wrote songs for childrens television but has concentrated on writing books since the words of one of her songs A Squash and a Squeeze were made into a childrens book in 1993 Of her 184 published works 64 are widely available in bookshops The remaining 120 are intended for school use and include her Songbirds phonic reading scheme which is part of the Oxford University Presss Oxford Reading Tree