Creators of The Gruffalo are turning their attention to the coronavirus crisis in a bid to help children understand the ongoing pandemic.
Author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler have joined forces to reimagine the beloved children's stories to help youngsters adjust to living through lockdown.
The pair have brought to life a series of images detailing the Gruffalo, Stick Man, The Smeds and The Smoos and Zog all observing social distancing measures, and showing how they are all coping.
The twelve new stories are a lighthearted attempt at helping parents explain to children all the different rules that are now in place to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
The beloved characters' stories have all been updated to fit the new lockdown rules in place, with both images and rhymes showing characters adhering to social distancing rules.
One shows the Gruffalo and her child both staying in the Guffalo cave, while Room on the Broom has been updated to show the characters sitting far apart.
A Squash and a Squeeze shows farmyard animals helping the wise old man with his shopping, while The Gruffalo himself can be seen maintaining a two metre distance from his friend.
Meanwhile the Highway Rat can be seen stealing soap and loo rolls from shoppers at knifepoint, in a bid to stockpile all the goods.
According to the Guardian, it was Scheffler's idea to create a coronavirus-themed series of images to explain to children what is happening.
He told the newspaper: "I am not a nurse, I am not a doctor, and the situation is awful. And I thought, what can I do? As an illustrator, this is what I can do.
"I just thought it would be a nice thing for children to see the characters who they know, relating to this situation that they don’t understand.
“It’s a little ‘hello’ from Julia and me, [to say] that we are there, and there will be another book, and there will be better times."
All over the country, parents have been finding the pandemic hard to explain to children, and why they can't go to school and see their friends in the meantime.
It is hoped this series will help explain the situation a bit more to youngsters, in a lighthearted way.
Donaldson is also hosting live video sessions at 4pm every Thursday on The Gruffalo's Facebook page. Tune in here.
