Puffin Books celebrate 85 years of helping to spark young imaginations

AS the largest global children’s publisher, Puffin Books is home of some of the most iconic characters, authors and illustrators… and they are always on the hunt for dazzling new talents.

Their belief that the right book can inspire a child to feel that they can be or do anything is rooted in a meeting back in 1939 between Noel Carrington, then editor for Country Life books, and Allen Lane who, together with his brothers Richard and John Lane, had founded Penguin Books four years earlier, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.

Together, Lane and Carrington hatched the idea for Puffin Books… a series of children's non-fiction picture books, inspired by the brightly coloured lithographed books being mass-produced at the time for Soviet children. Lane immediately saw the potential mooted by Carrington, and Worzel Gummidge, written by Barbara Euphan Todd and illustrated by Elizabeth Alldridge, was the first Puffin storybook off the presses the following year.

And to mark Puffin’s milestone 85^th anniversary, they have published a spectacular eight-book clothbound collection featuring beautiful new editions of Puffin favourites from across the years, from modern classics to current bestsellers.

Each is published in a stunning yellow hardback, bound in real cloth with two coloured foils, sprayed coloured edges and ribbon marker, has a contemporary feel and design-led nod to Puffin’s globally bestselling Clothbound Classics, and includes a foreword by a current Puffin author.

From decades old favourites like Roald Dahl’s Matilda – the brilliant child with a magical mind whose parents decide she’s just a nuisance who wastes too much time on reading and stories – to Katie Kirby’s much-loved modern classic The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks – starring an 11-year-old girl whose life is officially over before she even starts high school because she hasn’t got friends or glamorous ‘swooshy’ hair – these gorgeous deluxe editions are perfect gifts or collector’s items.

Included in the new Clothbound Classics set are: The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson with a foreword by Beth Lincoln; Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney with a foreword by Dapo Adeola; Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White with a foreword by Jordan Lees; Matilda by Roald Dahl illustrated by Quentin Blake and with a foreword by Robin Stevens; The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks by Katie Kirby with a foreword by Nadia Shireen; Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan with a foreword by Nazneen Ahmed Pathak; Pig-Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman with a foreword by Adam Kay; Wonder by R.J. Palacio with a foreword by Tom Fletcher.

Last word should go to Francesca Dow, MD of Penguin Random House Children’s: ‘Puffin has been shaping children’s reading for 85 years. Much has changed in that time but what has endured and deepened has been our commitment to create a book for every child because we believe in the transformative power of reading. With reading for pleasure in sharp decline, our mission is more important than ever, and we will continue to publish widely and imaginatively to build tomorrow’s generation of readers. Not only because we want to share what’s between the pages but because we know that reading for pleasure is the single biggest factor in a child’s success in life.’
(Puffin Classics, clothbound hardbacks, £14.99 each)