Who is Grug?
Grug is an Australian children's book character created by author and illustrator Ted Prior. He is a small, round creature who emerged from the top of a fallen Burrawang tree (Macrozamia communis), and lives in a cosy burrow in the Australian bush. The Grug series began in 1979 and has grown to 47 titles, making it one of the longest-running Australian children's book series.
Created by Ted Prior while living on a rural property in northern New South Wales, Grug was inspired by the distinctive grass-topped burrawang trees on his land. Prior imagined a character "born from the burrawang" — simple, loveable, and always curious about the world around him.
Each book is short by design. Whether Grug is learning to fly, discovering a rainbow, or visiting the beach, the stories are calm enough for bedtime but memorable enough to read again. The word count rarely exceeds 150, and the illustrations — pen and watercolour, clean lines, no clutter — do as much work as the text.
What Grug is like
A closer look at the character.
His Home
Grug lives in a cozy burrow in the Australian bush, topped with a tuft of grass that makes him blend in with nature.
His Curiosity
Grug is naturally curious about everything around him, leading to adventures that teach important life lessons.
His Friends
Throughout his adventures, Grug meets many friends who help him learn about friendship, sharing, and kindness.
The origin — born from the Burrawang
The Grug books open with the same origin every time: "Once the top of a Burrawang tree fell to the ground … and the grassy top began to change. It became Grug." It's a single sentence that does everything — introduces the character, grounds him in the Australian landscape, and signals the quiet, unhurried tone the series would maintain for over four decades.
The Burrawang tree (Macrozamia communis) is a cycad native to the eastern coast of Australia, found commonly in New South Wales bushland. Its distinctive grass-topped form gave Ted Prior his central image: a small, round creature with a tuft of grass on top, blending into the bush. Prior was living on a rural property in Killabakh, northern NSW when he created Grug in 1978, reading stories to his young children and deciding to invent their own.
The simplicity was deliberate. Prior wanted a character defined by curiosity rather than drama — one whose adventures were small enough that a three-year-old would recognise them. Going to school for the first time. Learning to swim. Figuring out how to share. Big situations at small scale.
The first book was published in 1979 by Hodder & Stoughton. Within a few years the series had grown to over 30 titles, with Ted Prior writing and illustrating each one in the same unhurried style. The books went out of print for a period before being republished in 2009 by Simon & Schuster Australia, after which Prior did extensive book signings across the country. He described being "constantly surprised" by young adults turning up with their childhood copies.
Themes and values
Every Grug story has the same quiet intention.
Friendship and kindness
Grug's best friend Cara the snake appears throughout the series. Their friendship is a constant — Cara offers advice, company, and a calm perspective. The books show friendship as something built through small, daily moments rather than dramatic events.
Curiosity and learning
Grug learns by trying things — flying, cooking, building, dancing. He doesn't always succeed on the first attempt, and that's the point. The books model persistence and the enjoyment of learning itself, not just outcomes.
Courage in familiar situations
Grug goes to hospital, gets lost in the bush, and faces a bushfire. These are genuine fears for young children, handled at a scale they can hold. The books don't dismiss the fear — they follow it through to a calm resolution.
Australian setting
Grug lives in the Australian bush. He plays cricket, meets echidnas and goannas, and navigates a world that Australian children recognise. The series doesn't make a point of being Australian — it just is, the way the best local literature works.
Publication history
First publication — Hodder & Stoughton
The original Grug is published. Ted Prior, living on a rural property in northern NSW with his young family, creates the character while reading stories to his children. The first book establishes the template — short, simple, Australian — that all 47 would follow.
The core series grows
Through the 1980s Ted Prior writes the classic Grug adventures — the beach, the rainbow, the zoo, cricket, fishing, the garden. These become the foundational titles that generations of Australian children will grow up with. The books reach schools and libraries across the country.
Republication — Simon & Schuster Australia
After years out of print, Simon & Schuster Australia republishes the complete series. The timing coincides with a generation of parents who grew up with Grug now buying books for their own children. Prior does extensive book signings and is moved to find young adults in their twenties and thirties arriving with worn copies from their own childhoods.
40th anniversary
Four decades of Grug. A special anniversary box set is released with a hardback edition of the original story and a plush Grug toy. The milestone signals how deeply the character has embedded itself in Australian family life across multiple generations.
New stories, new formats
Grug and the Bushfire (2020) is the first all-new Grug story since 2016, inspired by bushfires that swept through Prior's Killabakh property. New board book editions follow for the youngest readers. The series reaches 47 titles and continues to grow, maintained by Simon & Schuster Australia.
Grug on screen
The Grug books have been adapted into animation, bringing the same quiet, unhurried pace of the books to screen. The animated series stays true to the source material — same characters, same gentle tone, same Australian bush setting.
The Windmill Theatre Company has also brought Grug to the stage, performing the character live to audiences across Australia and internationally — over 300 performances and more than 55,000 audience members, according to the company.
The animation is a good introduction to the character, but the books are where you'll find the full collection — 47 stories with the full scope of Grug's world.
About Ted Prior
Ted Prior was born in Sydney in 1945. He grew up in country NSW, attended Punchbowl Boys High, left school at 15, and joined the NSW Police Cadets at 16. He left the police force at 21 to attend art school full time — a significant change in direction that would eventually lead to Grug.
Prior worked as an art teacher and in children's television and animation before creating Grug in 1978. The character came out of the ordinary act of making up stories for his children, and the deliberate simplicity of the books — pen and watercolour, clean lines, 50–150 words — reflects his view that restraint is harder and more effective than abundance.
He has cited Roald Dahl as an influence, specifically Dahl's willingness to tackle difficult subjects in children's literature. In Grug's case that has included getting lost, going to hospital, and facing a bushfire — real fears, handled calmly.
Why Grug is an Australian icon
Grug has been in print, in some form, for over 45 years. That's not unusual for a popular character — what's unusual is how little the books have changed, and how that consistency is exactly why they've lasted.
The series works for the same reasons in 2025 as it did in 1979: the stories are short enough that a tired child won't resist them, simple enough that a new reader can follow them alone, and Australian enough that the setting feels familiar rather than borrowed. Parents who grew up with Grug are now buying the books for their own children. That intergenerational loop is rare in children's publishing.
The character has been adapted for stage, animated for screen, and covered by Australian literature organisations as a cultural touchstone. The Windmill Theatre Company performed Grug over 300 times to more than 55,000 people globally. Better Reading Australia named the series a 43-year icon of Australian children's literature. The CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) regularly includes Grug in curated early-reader recommendations.
It's the kind of staying power that can't be engineered. Ted Prior made a simple character, gave him small problems, and trusted the reader to find what they needed in it. Forty-five years later, they still do.
Why it works for young readers
What makes Grug work
- Simple vocabulary perfect for early readers
- Gentle life lessons about friendship and sharing
- Australian setting and cultural context
- Encourages curiosity and exploration
Reading level guide
47 books. Start wherever you like.
Browse the complete Grug collection or follow the reading order guide.