Gruffalo Granny teams up with nine literacy and disability charities to reach young readers in the National Year of Reading
Ahead of the highly anticipated publication of Gruffalo Granny on 10th September, Macmillan Children’s Books (MCB) today announces a pioneering nationwide partnership with nine literacy and disability charities.
The landmark coalition aims to widen book access for underserved communities amid the UK’s growing literacy crisis.
The initiative arrives at a critical cultural moment. A recent report from The National Literacy Trust found that fewer than half (45.9%) of parents and carers of children aged five and under read with them daily, a drop of 20.2 percentage points since 2019 (66.1%). This dramatic decline has triggered a nationwide push to reverse the trend during the Department for Education’s National Year of Reading, run in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust.
Following the unprecedented wave of public excitement for the new Gruffalo story and the introduction of this new character, Macmillan Children’s Books is partnering with six major literacy charities: The National Literacy Trust through their Early Words Matter programme is a lead partner, with other major projects with BookTrust, Scottish Book Trust, the Children's Book Project, Children's Books Ireland, and Read for Good. The campaign will deliver 140,000 gifted Gruffalo books suitable for children of different ages (including 75,000 copies of Gruffalo Granny) alongside interactive family sessions designed to build lasting reading habits in disadvantaged areas. In an industry first, Macmillan Children’s Books is also teaming up with three leading disability charities. Three specialist formats will debut on launch day alongside the standard print edition:
- For Children with Vision Impairment: a custom braille edition developed with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), plus an accessible PDF via their Bookshare scheme and a bespoke, audio tactile edition created with Living Paintings and sponsored by MCB
- For British Sign Language (BSL) users: a BSL translation of the story produced with the National Deaf Children’s Society, available to watch online
‘Stepping into the deep dark wood is a magical storytime experience for all families to enjoy and yet too many miss out. We are using the immense power of the much-loved and celebrated Gruffalo to change that.’
— Alison Ruane - Managing Director, Macmillan Children's Books
The campaign builds on the huge public anticipation for this first new Gruffalo story in over twenty years. Following the title reveal by author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on 6th February, Gruffalo Granny saw a chart-topping surge in pre-orders - a remarkable feat for a book that was then still seven months away from its September 10th publication.
The world of the Gruffalo remains a global phenomenon, with The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child publishing achieving combined sales of 45 million copies worldwide.
Alison Ruane, Managing Director at Macmillan Children’s Books, said:
"The overwhelming public response to news of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Gruffalo Granny demonstrates that the launch of the book is a significant cultural moment that every single child deserves to be a part of. Stepping into the deep dark wood is a magical storytime experience for all families to enjoy and yet too many miss out. We are using the immense power of the much-loved and celebrated Gruffalo to change that. By joining forces with a coalition of nine leading literacy and disability charities, and launching our specialised accessible formats on the same day as the print edition, we are ensuring that any child, regardless of ability or background, can meet Gruffalo Granny. The whole of Pan Macmillan feel genuinely uplifted by the scale of national excitement for the launch of this very special picture book, particularly in the National Year of Reading."
Globally, with 37 international publishers on board to date, almost 200,000 copies have been pledged as donations to support literacy and to reach children and families in various ways, from supporting children who live in residential care, donating to women and children's shelters, children’s hospitals, and working with a foundation that ensures children growing up in poverty can still celebrate their birthdays with a book.
The launch of Gruffalo Granny is a coordinated global movement that brings publishers and charities together to bring the joy of reading to millions of families worldwide.
