In 2009, the original story – about a clever mouse fooling a series of predators while strolling in a deep dark wood – became an Oscar-nominated animated short film on BBC One, with James Corden, Rob Brydon and Helena Bonham Carter providing some of the voices.
Two years later, The Gruffalo’s Child was also animated, earning a Bafta nomination, with Shirley Henderson taking the role of the young monster.
The third book in the series, which was announced in April last year, will see the return of the fox, snake, owl and of course, the courageous mouse.
The only line from the book which is known so far is:
“The Gruffalo said to his daughter one day, ‘Your Gruffalo granny is coming to stay.'”
German animator and illustrator Scheffler admitted he had always, until recently, “denied the possibility of another visit to the deep dark wood”.
“Until one day out of the blue there came a wonderfully clever and inspired new text by Julia,” he said.
“How does she do this? Could I decline? Of course not!”
He went on to confirm that he had, in fact, “drawn the odd Gruffalo and his daughter over the last 20 years”, and was therefore “not completely out of practice” when the new story arrived – in need of illustration.
“I’m also very happy that the Gruffalos will get involved in some charitable activities to reach even more young readers with support from the National Literacy Trust,” he added.