We’ve not read Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo yet, simply because I know my kids are terrified of monsters. I know it’s a clever story, and I know it’s a story about a clever mouse more than anything else, really. But I don’t intend to have my kids worry about a terrifying creature while I’m reading them the story, so our favourite Julia Donaldson books for now are The Snail and the Whale and Room on a Broom.

Yet I couldn’t say no to the organisers of KidsFest 2015 when they invited the Kao kids for an interactive story-telling session of The Gruffalo, and to meet and greet him last week.

Because?

Because I haven’t really been able to carve out time to read to them these days, and mom guilt dictates that I bring them to the Volvo showroom for an afternoon of storytelling and fun.

And met the Gruffalo we did.

He wasn’t scary at all. To Ben, at least. He loved the story, and knew that at the end of it all, it’s Mouse who’s the hero in the book.

Becks was somewhat terrified and was unwilling to go near the “creature”. Nat was taking his nap when the story started so he missed seeing the Gruffalo-man. Till now, he thinks we’ve met “The Buffalo”.

I’ll just leave it as that till the younger ones are ready to handle a little bit more monstrous fun in their lives, and make it up with candy floss if they were frightened a wee bit by this encounter.

~~~

KidsFest is happening from 21 January 2015 to March 2015 (check schedule here), and tickets are on sale now from Sistic.

Expect an exciting festival for the whole family where compelling characters from stories are brought to life on stage as world-class theatre folks come to Singapore to bring world-class theatre to our young ones! I hear the Princess and her Pea, the Snail and the Whale, Hugless Douglas will all be coming. The Tiger‘s also coming for Tea, and so are the Ville Victorians and the Barmy Brits from Horrible Histories, together with some dinosaurs from Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo, as well as the Gruffalo himself!

It’s going to be an exciting KidsFest next year!