The Queen’s Christmas Present

Sharing the Joy of Reading

What is The Queen's Christmas Present? 

As a passionate advocate for literacy, and inspired by the National Year of Reading 2026, Her Majesty The Queen wanted to give children a personal gift at the end of the year to help inspire a love of reading.

The Queen's Christmas Present is an initiative in support of the National Year of Reading. As Katherine Rundell is one of Her Majesty’s favourite authors, the National Literacy Trust, with Her Majesty as its Patron, has come together with the publisher, Bloomsbury, to build this initiative so that every year 6 child in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, every P6 child in Scotland, and every home schooled child of the equivalent age across the UK will be gifted a special edition for free of the award-winning children's book, Impossible Creatures.

The initiative, by means of producing, printing and delivery of the books, aims to create a shared national reading moment that brings children together around a single book at the same time, and at a crucial point in their reading lives when our research shows their engagement with reading declines most steeply.

About Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell is the first in the award-winning series of the same name. It introduces twelve-year-old Christopher Forrester to the secret, magical islands of the Glimouria Archipelago, where the creatures of myth still live and thrive. There, he will discover dragons, ratatoskas, unicorns, kankos, longmas and an impossible girl called Mal who needs his help – for something is threatening their survival …

Each special edition of Impossible Creatures will feature a unique royal stamp on the cover and a personal message from The Queen inside. Here’s a sneak peek…

A celebration of the National Year of Reading

The Queen's Christmas Present celebrates the National Year of Reading 2026 - the biggest campaign in a generation designed to inspire every child, young person and adult to discover the joy of reading and embed it into everyday life.

The initiative complements a wide range of programmes, activities and events taking place in schools, communities and workplaces throughout the UK to promote, inspire and sustain a love of reading - from World Book Day and the Summer Reading Challenge, through to our own Young Readers Programme and Libraries for Primaries campaign with Penguin Books.

The Queen's Christmas Present supports the National Year of Reading's aims to help more people discover the joy of reading and make it part of their everyday life. It will create a platform to inspire others to give the gift of reading and contribute to the legacy of the National Year of Reading through giving, gifting and volunteering.

What do teachers, school librarians and staff need to do? 

Nothing at all. From the autumn term, the book will be distributed directly to schools alongside a collection of free, flexible and fun resources, activities and events designed to spark reading-related conversations and activity in classrooms, homes and community settings. The collection can also be used to support schools’ existing reading for pleasure strategies.

For eligible children who are not in a school setting, such as those who are home schooled, books and free activities will be distributed through libraries.

To ensure as many children and families as possible can benefit from the initiative, additional targeted outreach will happen in the most disadvantaged communities going to where families are and working with networks of partners including hospitals and food banks.

Will the book be available in alternative accessible formats? 

Yes, we will be making the Impossible Creatures audiobook available, for free, for all children, families and schools.

We are also exploring further accessibility options to ensure that children can engage with the magical story in a way that works best for them.

More detail on this will be shared in the autumn term.

How do I use Impossible Creatures in my classroom? 

During the 2026/27 autumn term, schools will be able to access a collection of free, flexible and fun resources, activities and events designed to spark children's imaginations, nurture a love of reading and celebrate a national shared reading moment.

This will include:

• An online National Year of Reading assembly led by author Katherine Rundell, which all UK primary schools are invited to attend. The assembly will be packed with interactive activities to get children excited about reading and to bring the Impossible Creatures adventure to life.
• Teacher webinars for those who want to find out more about the initiative and Impossible Creatures.
• Free, flexible and fun resources to celebrate a national shared reading moment, spark conversations about reading and explore key themes, characters and ideas from the book.

Libraries and community settings will also have access to a range of free resources to encourage children, families and the wider community to engage with the story.

Additional FAQs about The Queen's Christmas Present

Why is book ownership important for supporting children’s reading enjoyment? 

Extensive research demonstrates that when children enjoy reading and have books of their own, their academic success, wellbeing, creativity and life chances thrive.

Our Annual Literacy Surveys of children and young people aged 5 to 18 consistently find strong links between book ownership and higher levels of reading enjoyment.

For example, our 2025 book ownership report found that 1 in 10 (10.3%) children and young people aged 5 to 18 in the UK said they didn’t have a single book of their own at home, rising to 1 in 6 (15.7%) living in disadvantaged communities.

Owning books was strongly associated with children and young people's enjoyment of reading and reading frequency:

• Nearly four times as many children and young people with a book of their own at home said they enjoyed reading compared with those without a book (40.0% vs 11.3%)
• Similarly, nearly four times as many book owners reported reading daily compared with their peers who did not have a book (24.1% vs 6.8%)

Book ownership can play an important role in supporting children's enjoyment of reading, which our latest research indicates is still at a concerningly low level (37.1%), despite a slight upturn in the past year.

The transition from primary to secondary school – the focal age for The Queen’s Christmas Gift programme – is a pivotal moment in children’s reading lives. Enjoyment falls more steeply at the transition from primary to secondary school than at any other point in education, dropping by almost a third between ages 8 to 11 (47.7%) and 11 to 14 (33.2%).

Having a brand-new book delivered to the hands of year 6, P6 and home schooled children of the same age across the UK on this scale – alongside additional free support for schools, families and communities to help children engage with the story – is an ambitious project to inspire a love of reading and storytelling around a communal national moment of celebration.

How is the initiative funded?

The initiative, which consists of the producing, printing and delivery of the books before Christmas 2026, is funded exclusively through private philanthropic donations (individual donors and foundations). Ring-fenced charitable donations from private donors have been raised solely for the initiative. No public funding is used to pay for the initiative. Bloomsbury is providing the gifted books on a not-for-profit basis. Katherine Rundell is waiving her royalties, giving her time and work for free in support of the initiative.

Does the one-off grant made to the National Literacy Trust from the Department for Culture Media and Sport contribute to the costs of the initiative?

The initiative is paid for only by private donors. In England, a one-off grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be designated for schools and targeted community outreach by the National Literacy Trust, as part of the National Year of Reading, which will include the creation, delivery and distribution of a collection of free, engaging and accessible resources, activities and events to help every child benefit from the initiative and to spark ongoing reading-related conversation and activity.

In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the outreach project will be supported by individual philanthropic donations.

Where can I find out more? 

We will update this webpage with the latest news and resources.

Check back in the autumn term for more information.