McDonald’s hands out free Roald Dahl books to encourage children to read more

The fast food giants will hand out 800,000 free books as part of the initiative

McDonald’s has replaced its famous Happy Meal toys with Roald Dahl books in its New Zealand stores to encourage children to read more.

The fast food chain will hand out 800,000 books by the beloved children’s author for the next six weeks.

Six specially-created books will be given to young diners as part of the Happy Meal programme, including Wonderful Mr Willy Wonka, Matilda, Fantabuluos BFG, Lucky Charlie Bucket, Brave Little Sophie and Marvellous Miss Honey.

Each book will feature story extracts from the original titles by Dahl alongside illustrations by Quentin Blake in addition to a selection of stickers and activities.

It’s not the first time McDonald’s has handed out books instead of toys with its Happy Meals.

The project forms part of McDonald’s global Happy Meal Readers programme, which aims to inspire a passion for reading and has seen stores in New Zealand offering free books with children's meals over the last decade.

“The Happy Meal Readers programme is all about helping parents to get their children to enjoy reading,” explains Jo Mitchell, director of marketing at McDonald’s New Zealand.

“The Roald Dahl characters are ones that many parents will have enjoyed growing up, and it’s great to play a part in introducing them to a new generation.”

Different titles will be distributed each week, see below for full details:

24 January to 30 January: Roald Dahl’s Fantabulous BFG

31 January to 6 February: Roald Dahl’s Amazing Matilda

7 February to 13 February: Roald Dahl’s Lucky Charlie Bucket

14 February to 20 February: Roald Dahl’s Brave Little Sophie

21 February to 27 February: Roald Dahl’s Wonderful Mr Willy Wonka

28 February to 6 March: Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Miss Honey