According to the Telegraph UK, Roald Dahl publisher Puffin has struck a deal with UK supermarket chain Asda to place excerpts from Dahl classics on the backs of ten million boxes of cereal sold in their stores. Over the next few weeks, Asda will replace the games and advertisements on the backs of all of their own store-brand cereals with 200-odd word excerpts and illustrations from Dahl classics The Witches; The Twits, The BFG; Danny, the Champion of the World and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Francesca Dow, the managing editor of Penguin’s children’s books, including the Puffin imprint, explains, “The great thing about a cereal box, is that it potentially is reaching millions of households that just don’t read any literature outside of school…There could be an enormous number of children discovering Roald Dahl for the first time, bleary eyed over the breakfast table.” Sounds like heaven to us. What do you think? Would you (or your kids) like the BFG with your morning Cheerios?