The darling buds of Maytilda

‘Maytilda’ – a month of events and activity featuring Dahl’s plucky schoolgirl – will begin on 2 May with an event starring Miss Honey from the RSC’s acclaimed musical adaptation of Matilda.

We are delighted to announce the first month of Children's Reading Fund activities with Waterstones who will be working with us for the next two years. One of the Fund’s aims is to help children in care have access to books, and it is this area that Waterstones will focus on, aiming to raise around £200K per annum. The partnership will launch with various activities featuring one of the Fund’s ambassadors, Roald Dahl’s Matilda.

75 schoolchildren from three London primary schools will meet Miss Honey at the Waterstones flagship bookshop in London’s Piccadilly, with Miss Honey’s classroom recreated in the shop. Props from the show will also share a window with a giant banner announcing the charity partnership at Waterstones Piccadilly. The three schools were selected by Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly having successfully bid at the Children's Reading Fund's launch auction to supply 500 Children's books to schools of their choice. Each school will be presented with their books on the day.

Matilda will also be the focus of fundraising events throughout Waterstones in May. Shops will be running storytime sessions, fancy dress competitions, quizzes and a myriad of other activities, backed up by marketing material including posters, balloons and stickers. Collecting tins are already present at every till in every branch of Waterstones. In addition, over 2 million Waterstones cardholders have been given the chance to win tickets to see the RSC production of Matilda, and win a great night out at the top of London’s iconic Shard.

Tim Minchin, who adapted Dahl’s classic for the stage, describes it as 'the story of a girl for whom reading is emancipation'. A fitting description, as it is a lack of access to reading that the Children's Reading Fund describes as a key challenge for children in care, and one in which we aim to ‘Change the Story’. Waterstones will also raise funds for Booktrust this Christmas, with the Children's Reading Fund the sole beneficiary of its charity Christmas card sales.

A new illustrated edition of Matilda will be Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month for May, bringing one of Roald Dahl’s best loved books to the attention of a new generation of readers.

Amanda Conquy from Roald Dahl's literary estate said: 'The Children's Reading Fund campaign embodies everything that the character of Matilda stands for, and indeed core values which Roald Dahl espoused through his life and work. That's why the literary estate and Quentin Blake have jointly allowed the use of Matilda, in an unprecedented way, to serve as the ambassador for the Children's Reading Fund.'

Find out more about the Children's Reading Fund

Download the full press release