Puffin backs classics relaunch with online and retail push

It is relaunching the series in March with newly designed jackets and new introductions, written by authors including Eoin Colfer, Meg Rosoff and Sophie Dahl.

Penguin is presently recording a series of podcasts featuring that authors that have written introductions. These will be hosted on the Penguin and Puffin websites, as well as on a partner website yet to be signed up.

There will also be a new book, 'The PuffinCyclopedia of Children's Classics', distributed in libraries and at events, with extracts from the books, film and television trivia and other information to help inspire more children to read books in the series.

It will not be sold, but can be used as a promotional tool. Retailers who have ordered stock include Waterstone's, Borders and WH Smith. There are also plans to give away 100,000 in a national newspaper, but the title has not been named yet.

Francesca Dow, managing director of Puffin Books, said: "The Puffin Classics are some of the oldest but the best stories for children ever written. We're very excited to be relaunching them again for readers of today in their smart new livery so that they can sit, where they belong, alongside the very best contemporary children's authors."

It is the first time that the books have been rejacketed since the 1990s, and co-incides with the National Year of Reading, which is backed by the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency.