Celebrate Roald Dahl Day with Binky as we explore the stories, characters and illustrations that have inspired generations of children from Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake to Yoto audiobooks and a rather wonderful Matilda Book Nook.
Every year on 13 September, Roald Dahl Day celebrates the birthday of one of the world's best-known children's authors and the wonderfully imaginative world he created.
From chocolate factories and enormous peaches to clever foxes, fearsome witches and giants collecting dreams, Roald Dahl's children's books have been part of childhood for generations. I think we all have a favourite and a story to tell about our childhood reaction to his stories.
But there's another reason we wanted to celebrate this year. With the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in London now open, and classic Roald Dahl stories finding a new generation of listeners through Yoto, it feels like the perfect moment to celebrate not just the books themselves, but the words, pictures, voices and creative play that can make a story come alive.
Who was Roald Dahl?
Roald Dahl was born on 13 September 1916, which is why Roald Dahl Day is celebrated on this date each year.
Long before Matilda discovered her extraordinary powers or Charlie Bucket found his Golden Ticket, Dahl had lived a life that could almost have come from one of his own stories.
During the Second World War he served as an RAF fighter pilot, and his experiences would later influence his writing.
His first children's book was The Gremlins, but it was followed by the stories that would make him one of the most recognisable children's authors in the world.
James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Witches, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Twits and, of course, Matilda are now children's classics.
Part of their magic was Dahl's complete willingness to play with language. Ordinary words simply weren't always enough.
So he invented his own.
Children were introduced to gloriumptious things, found themselves completely biffsquiggled and discovered a world in which language could be stretched, squashed, muddled up and reinvented.
It's one of the things we love about his stories: children are invited into the joke.
And for children developing their own imaginations, that's a rather wonderful message.
Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake: a rather brilliant partnership
It's almost impossible to think of Roald Dahl's stories without also seeing the illustrations of Sir Quentin Blake.
His wonderfully loose lines, enormous expressions, spindly legs and gloriously unruly children became so intertwined with Dahl's words that for many of us, Quentin Blake's Matilda simply is Matilda.
Their partnership is also a lovely example of something we care about enormously at Binky: creativity doesn't have to fit neatly into one box.
A story can begin with words.
Someone else can add pictures.
A child can listen to it rather than read it.
And that same story might then inspire them to draw, dress up, make something, build something or invent a completely new adventure of their own.
Visit the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in London
There's now another reason for families to rediscover the wonderful world of Quentin Blake.
The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration has opened in Clerkenwell, London, creating a permanent UK home dedicated to illustration.
Set within a restored former waterworks, the centre explores illustration in all its forms, with exhibitions, an illustration library, gardens, public artworks and creative activities.
For families looking for creative things to do with children in London, it's a wonderful opportunity to show children what happens behind the pages of the books they love.
Original drawings are particularly magical for children to see. The illustrations in their favourite books didn't simply appear perfectly formed.
Someone imagined them.
Someone picked up a pencil and drew them.
And they can draw too.
Read it. Listen to it. Build it.
Perhaps the loveliest thing about a really good children's story is that it doesn't have to end when you close the book.
Children can read it, listen to it, draw it, act it out and build it — taking the characters and ideas somewhere completely new.
And Roald Dahl's wonderfully eccentric world is particularly good for this.
Listen to Roald Dahl with Yoto
We love Yoto at Binky because it gives children the independence to choose and listen to their own stories without putting another screen in front of them.
And Roald Dahl Yoto Cards are particularly good listened to aloud.
The strange words become even stranger. The jokes somehow become funnier. And characters such as Fantastic Mr Fox, the Twits and the Enormous Crocodile suddenly fill the room.
The Yoto Roald Dahl collection includes much-loved stories such as Fantastic Mr Fox, The Enormous Crocodile, Revolting Rhymes, Esio Trot and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, brought to life by a brilliant collection of voices.
For reluctant readers, younger siblings or children who simply adore being read to, children's audiobooks can also be a wonderful gateway into books.
Listen to the story first and you may find that the book itself is the next thing they reach for.
Build Matilda's world
For children who prefer making something with their hands, we particularly love the Build Your Own Roald Dahl 'Matilda' Book Nook.
Inspired by one of Roald Dahl's most loved characters, this clever Matilda craft kit lets children build their own little piece of Matilda's world, creating a miniature scene designed to sit amongst the books on their bookshelf.
There is something rather perfect about that.
Matilda is, after all, a story about a child who absolutely adores books — so making something inspired by her to live amongst your own favourite stories feels especially fitting.
It's also exactly the kind of screen-free creative activity we love at Binky: something that takes children beyond simply consuming a story and encourages them to make, imagine and create.
Once finished, the Matilda Book Nook becomes something to keep rather than another craft project destined for the recycling bin — a little reminder of a favourite story tucked between the books that inspired it.
How to celebrate Roald Dahl Day with children
You certainly don't need a Golden Ticket to celebrate Roald Dahl Day at home.
Choose a favourite Roald Dahl book and read a chapter together. Pop a Roald Dahl Yoto Card into your Yoto Player. Invent some completely ridiculous new words. Draw your own version of Willy Wonka, Fantastic Mr Fox or an Oompa-Loompa. Design a chocolate bar that has never existed before. Build the Matilda Book Nook. Or create your own fantastical character and give them an appropriately Dahl-esque name.
Older children might enjoy discovering more about Dahl's own extraordinary life through Boy and Going Solo, while younger children can simply enjoy the silliness, storytelling and Quentin Blake illustrations.
Most importantly, give children permission to be imaginative.
Because perhaps the greatest thing about the world created by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake is that it never asks children to behave like miniature grown-ups.
Children are allowed to be curious, mischievous, inventive and occasionally revolting.
They can question the rules.
They can make things up.
And sometimes, the smallest person in the room turns out to be the cleverest one of all.
Roald Dahl gifts for little book lovers
For children who already love Roald Dahl, or those just discovering his stories, books aren't the only way to continue the adventure.
A Roald Dahl Yoto Card makes a lovely screen-free gift for children who love stories, while the Build Your Own Matilda Book Nook combines storytelling with making and creative play.
Pair either with a favourite Roald Dahl book and you have a particularly lovely birthday or Christmas gift for a young reader.
Read it. Listen to it. Build it.
Stories that grow with us
The books we discover as children have a funny way of staying with us.
We remember where we were when we first met Matilda. We remember imagining what we would choose if we were allowed inside Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. And years later, we find ourselves introducing those same characters to our own children.
That's why we love seeing stories move from one generation to the next whether that's through a much-loved Roald Dahl book pulled down from a shelf, an original Quentin Blake illustration discovered on a family day out in London, a Yoto Card popped into a player at bedtime, or a tiny piece of Matilda's world built together at the kitchen table.
The format may change.
The magic doesn't.
Happy Roald Dahl Day from all of us at Binky.
Now, who fancies a snozzcumber?
