- Picture Books
- Ages 3–7
- Science Fiction
The Smeds and the Smoos
Part of Julia Donaldson & Axel SchefflerView the full series
Part of the Julia Donaldson universeOpen the collection
A warm, space-set Romeo-and-Juliet-style picture book about two alien families learning to move past prejudice.
- Best for3–7
- FormatPicture
- Length32 pp
- Read aloud~6 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Rhyming
- Repetitive
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Warm
- Heartwarming
- Whimsical
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
The Smeds are red and the Smoos are blue, and neither family thinks the other side should be mixed with. So when Janet, a young Smed, and Bill, a young Smoo, fall in love and fly away together, the rival families have to travel through space to find them. Their journey becomes a comic tour of strange planets, but the heart of the book is about prejudice softening through love, family and the arrival of a purple baby who belongs to both sides. The rhyme and alien silliness keep the message light, while the colour-coding makes the central idea immediately clear for young children. This is a particularly useful Donaldson/Scheffler book for conversations about difference, mixed families, intolerance and reconciliation, without losing the bouncy read-aloud pleasure that makes the partnership so popular.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 3–7
- Read aloud · 3–7
- Independent · 5–8
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Excellent
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Bedtime
- Reading together
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
5 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
4 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Space
- Inclusion
- Difference
- Family
- Rhyming read aloud
Avoid if
- Prefers realistic stories
- Wants joke only books
Particularly good for children who are…
- Mixed race or dual heritage family
- Making friends
- Reluctant reader
- New step parent or blended family
In the classroom
How it works in school.
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's modern rhyming classics — the gold standard of join-in read-alouds, ideal for prediction, sequencing and performing.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific delight is the purple baby — two alien families who refuse to speak to each other, two young aliens who run off and have a child who is neither red nor blue but both. A four-year-old reads it and gets the prejudice-and-acceptance arc in one neat package they actually understand.
- Friendship and belonging
- Family belonging
- Adventure and freedom
Why parents love it
Donaldson's most directly political picture book — a deliberately simple Romeo-and-Juliet about two alien families and the purple grandchild that softens them. Useful for school PSHE and any household conversation about difference. Lighter than the heavy issue books that try to do the same work.
- Conversation starter
- Bedtime appropriate
- Shared humour
- Cultural representation
In the series
Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler.
14 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
Where you’ll find it
On these reading lists.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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