‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding was a coming-of-age book for me: Julia Donaldson

Children’s author Julia Donaldson is best-known for her book ‘The Gruffalo’. In a recent interview with The Guardian, when the English writer, playwright and performer was asked about a book that changed her life, Donaldson named William Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’. Donaldson explained, “‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding was a coming-of-age book for me. Till I read it I had a child’s rosy view of life; I suppose I believed in happy endings. This story of a group of boys stranded on a desert island was a horribly convincing portrait of the darker side of human nature.” Talking of comfort reads, the author revealed that William books by Richmal Crompton is what she prefers reading. “William was my childhood hero and I still have my battered collection of books about the eternally 11-year-old boy’s misadventures. I love the way William is always “snorting sardonically” and saying things like: “Huh! I like that!”,” she said. The beloved children’s writer’s new book ‘Cat’s Cookbook’ released in April 2021. It is the latest book in the Acorn Wood series of flap books. On being asked to name a book that greatly influenced her writing, Donaldson said, “‘Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets’ by Edward Lear, mainly because it contains the poem “The Jumblies”, which sank deeply into my imagination, teaching me that there can be a lyrical beauty in nonsense, madness and the unreasonable quest for adventure. In my own rhyming story The Snail and the Whale, the snail who longs to see the world is really a Jumbly in disguise.” Which is your favourite book by Julia Donaldson? Tell us in the comments below!

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