A beautiful tale of an unlikely friendship, a tour of the world and a heroic rescue. Based on the picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The Snail and the Whale won the 2004 Early Years award for the best pre-school book, the 2005 Blue Peter award for Best Book to Read Aloud, and the 2007 Giverny award for Best Science Picture Book. The audio version, which includes The Snail and the Whale song, won the Spoken Book gold award for best audio for 6 and under. Look at pictures of snails and whales and think of words / sentences / paragraphs to describe them (see Resources below). This precipitates an epic journey that sees the snail and the whale in icy seas, observing mountains and golden sands on the shore, under the sea admiring the sea-life, surviving a thunderstorm and avoiding pleasure seekers in a holiday resort.

What do snail and whale say to each other when they first meet? Have an imaginary conversation then children can write their own speech bubbles for snail and the whale. Persuade the snail Everyone, including the local firemen rushed to the beach and they all began spraying the whale to keep him cool while some of the children dug around him to provide water from under the sand. Then the tide came in and much to everyone's relief the whale, complete with snail on its tail, took to the water once more. The whale sang a song to the snail. Could you write the words to the song or make up a tune for it? And she gazed at the sky, the sea, the land, The waves and the caves and the golden sand, She gazed and gazed, amazed by it all, And she said to the whale, “I feel so small.” The Snail and the Whale was adapted for the stage by the theatre company Tall Stories in 2012, and has been on tour around the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. I decided to write a sea story because Axel had previously told me he was getting fed up drawing trees and stormy skies (although actually there is one stormy sky in the book).

I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs. How there is something to be gained in a story about a snail that hitched a ride on the tail of a whale. This is the sky So vast and high Sometimes sunny and blue and warm, Sometimes filled with a thunderstorm, With zigzag lightning Flashing and frightening The tiny snail On the tail of the whale. We've chosen some of our favourite seaside-themed children’s books for all ages - which one is your favourite?

I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. There once was a snail that hitched a ride on the tail of the whale, and off they went to travel the world at sea.