I’ve never wanted to get to the point where the reader says, he’s phoning it in. That’s my biggest fear,” he says. “It was getting difficult to write a plot that didn’t repeat some other aspect of what we’d already done.” While this might be the end of the Treehouse, it’s certainly not the end for Griffiths and Denton. I can’t wait to see where their wild imaginations take us next… The 13-Storey Treehouse is a 2011 book [1] written by author Andy Griffiths and illustrated by Terry Denton, [2] and a stage play based on the book. [3] The story follows Andy and Terry, who are living in a 13-storey treehouse, struggling to finish their book on time among many distractions and their friend Jill, who lives in a house full of animals and often visits them. According to the book, the 13-storey treehouse has "a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a tank full of man-eating sharks, a secret underground laboratory, a vegetable vaporizer and a marshmallow machine that shoots marshmallows into your mouths when it sees that you are hungry". The 13-Storey Treehouse won the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for Older Children 2012 [4] [5] and the 2012 COOL Award for Fiction for Older Readers. [6] Plot [ edit ]

Some of the objects in Griffiths’ office. What he finds and what he is gifted is 50-50: ‘Once you get a reputation for this, people start looking for you.’ Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian The book has spawned a series of sequels, each of them adding 13 stories to the treehouse and other humour fiction: Griffiths, Andy; Denton, Terry (illustrator) (2013). The 13-story treehouse. Feiwel and Friends. ISBN 9781250026903. LCCN 2013404222.Griffiths and Denton are assembling a guide to all 169 levels of the Treehouse and after that, “something is suggesting itself to me”, he says cryptically. Has he ever considered writing for adults? Will he now? I’ve never wanted to get to the point where the reader says, he’s phoning it in’ … Andy Griffiths. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian Winners of the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) 2012 Announced". Readings . Retrieved 12 July 2014. Andy and Terry have built their biggest and most astonishing treehouse yet! It has everything they – and you – could wish for, including an electric pony stable, a Santa Land, a NOISY level, a kangaroo-riding range, a WHATEVER-WEATHER-YOU-WANT dome, a 100% edible gingerbread house and a hall of funhouse mirrors. But Anti-Andy, Terrible-Terry and Junkyard-Jill, their doppelgangers, are trapped in one of the mirrors – and they want out. Andy and Terry have added yet another 13-storeys to their treehouse, making it a whopping 169 levels of awesome 🥳 This time, Terry leaves the door to the Whatever-Weather-You-Want dome open, and creates a once-in-a-millennium meteorological disaster!

At the start of the second paragraph, Mr Big Nose will call Andy and Terry to tell them the deadline of their next book as pointed out in The 39-storey Treehouse. A doorbell rings, however the duo discovered it was Jill, in which she thought she saw Silky. Andy confessed that it was Silky but Terry turned her into a canary. But Jill was glad and thanks Terry. Some might be surprised that such a popular series with infinite potential is ending, but Griffiths says it has reached its natural conclusion. One day, he asked the children: did I ever tell you about the day my bum ran away? He instructed them all to write. “None of them wanted to be caught with the most dull book, so they went to town. We wrote things, read them, criticised and edited them. I still listen really carefully to the reactions from kids when a new book comes out.”This fantastic series finale really showcases Griffiths and Denton at their finest. Griffiths’ text is hilarious, Denton’s illustrations are exuberant, and the whole storyline is wonderfully, characteristically unhinged. His publisher was more direct: “Adults are reading it with an adult mind, but the kids know not to set fire to their willies.” However, Andy is still upset with how he and Terry haven't got their book done, but Terry suggests that they write what happened that day. They write the events up and with the help of Jill in a Santa-like sleigh, get their book to Mr Big Nose for it to be published.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning But wait! Anti-Andy, Terrible Terry and Junkyard Jill from the doppelgänger mirror are up to no good! One of his earliest memories is reading Der Struwwelpeter, a collection of brutal German morality tales. In one, a girl is burned alive after playing with matches; in another, a boy starves to death after refusing to eat his dinner. It is horrifying – and Griffiths loved it. “I never recovered from that combination of horror and humour – it’s what I’m trying to do with my readers all the time.” Initially, I wondered if I would get ever ‘serious’, but I’m incapable of it,” he sighs, smiling. “I wanted to be a serious writer and yet I can only write nonsense – but jeez, everyone seems to like it!”

Blake, Jason (September 23, 2013). "Andy Griffith's 13-Story Treehouse goes to the edge of the ridiculous". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 12 July 2014.