Gruffalo wait nearly over

THE Gruffalo family will expand in the long-awaited third book about the beloved monster - titled Gruffalo Granny.

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The new children’s story will be published on September 10, Macmillan has announced.

The third instalment comes more than 20 years after author Julia Donaldson's last foray into the deep dark wood with 2004's The Gruffalo’s Child, a sequel to 1999's bestselling original The Gruffalo.

The news that Donaldson would be revisiting the character with knobbly knees, turned out toes and a poisonous wart on the end of his nose was first announced in April last year, when she said she was spurred on to write by a campaign to reverse a decline in children’s reading.