Major New Gruffalo Tale Coming from Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Macmillan Children’s Books has announced that Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, the UK’s number one author and illustrator, will return to the world of their most successful and beloved character with a brand-new as-yet-untitled Gruffalo story in September 2026. World rights for the third Gruffalo adventure were acquired from Claire Wilson and Caroline Sheldon at RCW and the illustration rights acquired directly from Axel Scheffler. 

This news signals the first new Gruffalo story since the publication of the award-winning modern classics The Gruffalo (1999) and The Gruffalo’s Child (2004) by Macmillan Children’s Books. The two stories have become a bestselling phenomenon and have touched the lives of children across the globe, with a total of over 18.2 million copies sold. 

Macmillan Children’s Books is thrilled to be publishing this extraordinary new story, which sees the return of much-loved characters in a fresh and exciting adventure that has all the hallmarks of a Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler classic. The team at Macmillan plans for this highly-anticipated publication to be one of the biggest in its history, supported by a blockbuster marketing and publicity campaign. The launch will also harness the popularity of Julia and Axel’s iconic character to drive an international children’s reading and storytelling campaign in partnership with The National Literacy Trust and other charitable organisations across the globe, following an NLT report* earlier this year which revealed that only 1 in 3 children enjoy reading in their spare time, the lowest level since 2005. 

With The Gruffalo translated into an incredible 113 languages and dialects, Macmillan Children’s Books plans to make this new story the international publishing event of the decade.