The Gruffalo, Stick Man and the Smartest Giant in Town lend a paw, a stick and a hand to help with the coronavirus effort

Published on: 05 April 2020

'The Gruffalo' creators Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have shared twelve beautiful illustrations depicting their famous characters adjusting to social distancing, home-schooling and helping others during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as Scheffler illustrating a free coronavirus booklet aimed at children.

Author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler - who between them have created beloved children's characters such as The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Zog, the Highway Rat, the Smeds and the Smoos, and many others - are helping young children process the changes to life under social distancing due the COVID-19 pandemic with a series of 12 beautiful illustrations depicting their favourite characters staying indoors, keeping fit, and even sitting well apart on the broomstick from Room on the Broom.

In an interview with The Guardian, Scheffler spoke about how he had the idea to use their best-loved characters to help children during a difficult time:

“I am not a nurse, I am not a doctor, and the situation is awful. And I thought, what can I do? As an illustrator, this is what I can do.”

Scheffler has also illustrated a free digital booklet about coronavirus aimed at primary school age children, published by Nosy Crow. The booklet explains what the virus is, how you catch it, and how you can help control it - as well as why some places are closed and what might happen next - and was written with input from Professor Graham Medley at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as two head teachers and a child psychologist.