Back in May, I was invited to join McDonald’s Canada for the launch of their new Happy Meal Books program. Now, whenever you purchase a Happy Meal for your child, you will have the choice between a book or a toy!
This is a new partnership with Kids Can Press, the world’s largest children’s book publisher and First Book Canada, which helps provide access to books for kids in need. Together with McDonald’s, they will be helping improve access to books for children nationwide which will encourage families to spend more time reading together and ultimately help foster literacy amongst kids.
Every eight weeks, two new books will be available in restaurants, in both English and French and all of these high-quality books are written by Canadian authors. Talk about a truly Canadian experience!
If your kids are anything like mine, they most likely LOVE McDonald’s Happy Meals. While receiving a new little toy makes many kids happy, if I’m being totally honest, my kids don’t need more toys. In fact, I feel like I’m constantly trying to purge our home of little trinkets that have piled up.
But books…we never have an issue with too many books in our home. Our kids really do enjoy reading, in fact, our daughter is one of the top three readers in her class right now! Yup, total brag worthy moment for this mom!
So I seriously LOVE this new initiative by McDonald’s to now offer the option of books with the Happy Meals. The first two that were released were “Hurry Up, ” by Paulette Bourgeois and “Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach” by Melanie Watt. At the event, my littlest was able to meet “Kranklin”, as he kept calling him! And we even got to enjoy a live reading by the author of the Franklin books, while it was being illustrated! So much fun! It’s all about showing kids that reading CAN be fun and exciting while being educational and informative.
If you thought that was exciting, let me tell you about another fun initiative McDonald’s is doing. They want to help donate books to children in need, so they are encouraging all Canadians to post a photo of their bookshelf – a shelfie – on social media, using the hashtag #OwnaBookGiveaBook and in return they will donate up to 20,000 books through First Book Canada!
We are so excited to see the largest fast-food retailer embark on a new adventure like this! Putting kids first, not just with making sure they have nutritious options in their menus but now by caring about their literacy, just goes to show what is at the heart of this company. And as a mom to three young kids, this makes me SO happy to stand with them in full support!
Who’s up for a Happy Meal?!
Love & Blessings,
Note: This post was sponsored by McDonalds Canada where I may have received product and/or compensation in exchange for my honest review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for continuing to support the brands that make Amidst the Chaos possible!
