Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Joanna Trollope launch reading fund The Children's Reading Fund has been launched by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, author Joanna Trollope and TV presenters Gaby Roslin and Dan Snow. The Fund is a new philanthropic drive which aims to 'change the story' for the UK's most vulnerable and disengaged children through reading. Created by the independent reading and writing charity Booktrust, of which the Duchess is a patron, the venture is specifically targeting children between four and 11 through ebooks, books and games to inspire greater literacy. Leading bookseller Waterstones and publisher Random House have joined partners James Patterson to support the campaign, which is being fronted by the much-loved children's literature characters Matilda, created by Roald Dahl, Zog and Jacqueline Wilson's Tracy Beaker. Booktrust programmes have already helped thousands of pre-school age children in the UK, and aim to help a futher 12,000 in the next three years. The charity is primarily aiming to help children in care, those which are blind or deaf and those whose parents can't provide access to books. Currently, a child in care is more likely to go to prison than university, and a deaf child will leave school with a reading age of nine. The Duchess explained her motivations behind the Fund: "It's hard to imagine a childhood without books. A world where Alice doesn't go to Wonderland, where Charlie doesn't visit the chocolate factory and where Harry Potter never discovers the magic of Hogwarts. Sadly, there are too many children in our country who have not been given the chance to discover the exciting new worlds books can open up, and having loved books all my life I feel passionately that I want others to share that passion too.