Gruffalo Crumble?

6th February 2026

I hope that it has been a good week. And that we all took some time to talk, or listen, to someone close. this past week. The Time to Talk day has passed but the sentiments and intentions should not.

I should wish all those involved in the TRC Shrek production the very best – break a leg and all that. I know that the performance has been well received by those children from Sitwell and Oakwood who had the privilege to be at the matinee this Friday. Despite the walk to TRC in the rain they were warmed by the performance. A fantastic example of cross-trust collaboration. But, more importantly, a real example of building aspirations in all of our children and young people. Wonderful!

This weekend marks a long-awaited event. Not the premiere of the latest take on Wuthering Heights. Not the start of the T20 (cricket) World Cup. Not the start of the Winter Olympics, across northern Italy.  Not the start of the Six Nations (Rugby). Not the Superbowl. I’d be interested in 3/5 – I’ll let you muse on which two I’m really not that interested in.

This weekend marks the launch of the third and latest Gruffalo book. Those of us who’ve had children over the past twenty-five years will know the original ‘The Gruffalo’ – yes, it’s twenty-five years since the original! And twenty years since the second of the series ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’. And now the third and eagerly anticipated third in the series – ‘Gruffalo Granny’. Julia Donaldson (author) and Axel Scheffler (artist) made the announcement Friday morning, to an eager world of young readers.

The Gruffalo marked a shift in children’s literature. It brought something different in the story, the concept and the art. It made reading together with your younger child something more exciting and interactive. And as the reader became more confident it was something they could own themselves. And, the really important thing, it was exciting, slightly frightening and dangerous. As a dad of two lads, this was something that helped engage and develop in those boys a love of literature and reading. I am so pleased to say that those young boys have grown into passionate and veracious adult readers. That all begins with those early years of reading, is built upon through the reading and literacy encouragement at school, into college and through into adulthood.

2026 marks the National Literacy Trust’s National Year of Reading. As their website states…

‘The National Year of Reading 2026 is the biggest campaign in a generation designed to help more people (re)discover the joy of reading and make it part of their everyday lives.

Reading expands our world and sharpens our minds, yet fewer people are making time to read. A Department for Education initiative, in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, the campaign aims to tackle the profound decline in reading enjoyment in the UK and reconnect people of all ages with reading as a relevant and immediately rewarding activity. The campaign asks the nation to Go All In on their passions and interests for 2026 and discover how reading can unlock the things they already love – be that music, football, baking, family-time, sci-fi, or … anything.’

To some degree this is about our children and young people, but let’s not be shy about this, it’s about adults too. Too many of us have lost touch with reading; with the freedom, escapism and wonder that literature can bring. And we do need to model for our pupils and students. If we want them to read, we need to be seen to be reading. If we believe that literature is culturally important, we need to engage in a conversation about what we’ve read, what’s good and what’s not. Our children especially, whether we are parents or school and college staff, look up to us. They follow our lead. In doing so, we can lay firm literacy foundations upon which they can build for themselves a library of literary experiences.

The weather’s shocking at the moment. The news isn’t that much better. Maybe we should turn that phone off, jump away from social media and launch ourselves into a good book?