McDonald's stores in the United Kingdom are taking part in a new initiative from Wednesday which includes offering a book with each Happy Meal sold.
For the next five weeks, Happy Meals in the UK will feature non-fiction books from DK Books' Amazing World Series, with categories of Stars and Planets, Big Cats, and Oceans. Children can also redeem a voucher from their Happy Meal if they'd prefer to choose their own book at bookseller WH Smith.
McDonald's estimates that they will become the largest children's book distributor in the U.K, with a total of 15 million books handed out by the end of 2014.
"Our research tells us that there is a very clear link between book ownership and children's future success in life, so it is very concerning that one in three children in the UK doesn't own a book, and half of kids don't really enjoy reading," Jonathan Douglas, the director of the National Literacy Trust, told Britain's Telegraph.
"Initiatives like McDonald's Happy Readers campaign play an important role in getting more books into the hands of children, and inspiring families to read together as a fun and interactive pastime."
At the moment, McDonald's has no plans to bring the Happy Readers initiative to the United States.
