Gift a Gruffalo book

After 25 years, The Gruffalo is perhaps one of the most-loved picture book characters of modern times.

During the summer of 2024, we teamed up with WHSmith and Macmillan Children's Books to mark the 25th anniversary of The Gruffalo and to get more children reading.

You are part of this story too.

This campaign is now finished. Thank you to everyone who bought a copy of Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler's The Gruffalo in WHSmith. This meant that we were able to gift a copy of The Gruffalo to children who don't have a book of their own.

Where did the gifted books go?

The gifted copies of Gruffalo books were distributed through our literacy hubs where we work alongside some of the most deprived communities in the UK to tackle low levels of literacy.

Building early language, literacy and communication skills in a child’s early years is crucial for their development and future life chances, but recent National Literacy Trust research shows that one in five young children don’t own a book.

Families experiencing poverty work hard to get what is best for their children, but a mix of factors, including perhaps being less confident in their own literacy skills, less able to afford age-appropriate books, and the struggle of competing time pressures, means that lower income families are less likely to have the resources, information and confidence to support their young children's crucial early communication, language and literacy skills.

Watch our short video and discover why we are committed to empowering families with young children with the literacy skills they need to grow.