Gruffalo returns: new cover

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler have put a third Gruffalo picture book on the calendar, and the new character is the monster’s mother: Gruffalo Granny. The official Gruffalo site and Pan Macmillan list the book for September 10, 2026, more than 20 years after the last new Gruffalo story. (thegruffalo.com) The gap is unusually long for a children’s brand this big. Publishers Weekly called it the pair’s first Gruffalo book in 20 years when it reported the cover reveal tied to the Bodley Medal ceremony in Oxford on March 26, 2026. (publishersweekly.com) The original book is one of the few modern picture books that became a permanent shelf item, like a nursery-room version of a holiday movie that never leaves rotation. Pan Macmillan says The Gruffalo has been translated into more than 100 languages and dialects, and Australian Pan Macmillan says Julia Donaldson’s books include that 1999 classic and its sequel The Gruffalo’s Child. (panmacmillan.com.au) That sequel is old enough to have become a parent-generation book itself. Wikipedia’s entry, which matches the publisher timeline, notes that Gruffalo Granny follows The Gruffalo’s Child, which came out 22 years earlier. (wikipedia.org) The new story’s setup is simple and built for read-aloud rhythm: “Your Gruffalo Granny is coming to stay.” The official book page says the family returns to the “deep dark wood,” which is the same setting that made the first books instantly recognizable to children who cannot read yet but can memorize sound and pattern. (thegruffalo.com) The announcement did not arrive as a leak from a retailer or a trade catalog. The Bookseller reported that Donaldson and Scheffler revealed the title on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on February 6, 2026, and Pan Macmillan later said the book would publish in hardback and audiobook. (thebookseller.com) (panmacmillan.com) The U.S. edition is already being positioned as a major fall release. Penguin Random House lists the American edition from Dial for September 15, 2026, at 40 pages and says Gruffalo books have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. (penguinrandomhouse.com) That is why a cover reveal counts as news in children’s publishing when most picture books never get that treatment. A new Gruffalo book arrives with built-in school recognition, library demand, and grandparents who already know the characters from books first published in 1999 and the early 2000s. (publishersweekly.com) (panmacmillan.com.au) The revival also stays with the exact partnership that made the franchise work in the first place. Every official listing credits Donaldson for the rhyming text and Axel Scheffler for the illustrations, which means the publisher is not rebooting the Gruffalo with a new team but extending the original line. (thegruffalo.com) (panmacmillan.com) So the surprise is not just that the Gruffalo is back. It is that one of the biggest surviving picture-book properties of the last quarter century is returning in 2026 with the same writer, the same illustrator, the same forest, and a new family member dropped into a story slot publishers usually save for guaranteed bestsellers. (publishersweekly.com) (thegruffalo.com)