Character stars on 15 million book tokens given to UK and Ireland school children.
Roald Dahl’s most famous heroine – Matilda – will be at the heart of this week’s World Book Day celebrations (Thursday March 7), with each of the 15 million book tokens given to every school child in the UK and Ireland featuring the literature-loving character.
Matilda’s appearance on the token is the start of a multi-faceted partnership between World Book Day and The Roald Dahl Story Company, focused on championing the message ‘Share a Story’.
The collaboration is set to continue throughout World Book Day as Roald Dahl’s Matilda will be this year’s Official World Book Day Bedtime Story. Viewers who tune into the Roald Dahl Facebook channels at 7pm on Thursday March 7 will be able to watch an exclusive performance from the cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda The Musical including a reading from the book and a performance from the musical.
In addition, the two companies have teamed up to offer children nationwide the chance to win a once in a lifetime trip to New York, where they will explore the city and take afternoon tea with Mara Wilson, star of the 1996 Matilda movie.
For 2019 an expanded line-up of licensees will be supporting the annual celebrations at retail, led by dress-up from Smiffys with costumes at Argos, Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Smyths. Wonka baby dress up is also exclusively available as part of the TU collection at Sainsbury’s.
Dennicci is launching a Fantastic Mr Fox baby sleepsuit in George at Asda and supporting it with an influencer campaign giveaway. Aykroyds is also releasing a new style of Matilda PJs in M&S and an alternative option in George at Asda stores. Character.com is also joining the celebrations with the launch of a kids range for boys and girls which includes PJs and t-shirts across Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG.
Green Board Games is launching new versions of Roald Dahl Brainbox in time for World Book Day, while Winning Moves is releasing volume two of Top Trumps featuring new Roald Dahl characters.
The Matilda focus for World Book Day plans falls within the wider activity for The Roald Dahl Story Company, which has dubbed 2019 ‘The Year of Matilda’ in line with its hero publishing strategy.
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