The fast-food chain will offer extracts of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, George’s Marvellous Medicine and Matilda with its kids’ meals, in a campaign backed by the National Literacy Trust

The estate of Roald Dahl, the author behind such culinary delights as Wonka’s Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight and the upside-down fizzy drink Frobscottle, has teamed up with McDonald’s to give millions of books away with Happy Meals.

For six weeks from tomorrow, 14m specially created Roald Dahl books will be free with Happy Meals in the UK, McDonald’s announced today. Eight titles have been put together for the promotion, each showcasing extracts from two Dahl books, including Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Families, with tasters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr Fox, and Roald Dahl’s Magical Mischief, extracting George’s Marvellous Medicine and Matilda.

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Abigail Moss, deputy director of the National Literacy Trust, which is backing the campaign, said it was “reaching out on to the high street, where the families are ... Many parents will have enjoyed the wonderful world of Roald Dahl when they were young and now they’ll be able to share these iconic stories with their children. The scale of the campaign will reach millions of children, including many who haven’t owned a book before, inspiring them to enjoy reading and improving their life chances.” According to research from the NLT, 15.4% of children don’t have a book of their own, while only 55.4% of children enjoy reading “very much” or “quite a lot”.

McDonald’s has given away more than 22.8m books through its Happy Readers programme since 2013, with previous titles by Enid Blyton and from Dorling Kindersley’s Amazing World series.



“Last year when we partnered with McDonald’s on Enid Blyton, we had some absolutely fantastic letters through – one from a grandmother who said she had never read with her grandchildren, but that now she was sitting in McDonald’s reading Blyton’s The Secret Seven, and it was one of the best days of her life,” said Moss. “We’re reaching 14 million people, and over the last few years 22.8m books have been given to children, some of whom will be the one in seven children who don’t own a book.”

Moss said that the McDonald’s giveaway was also targeting “family time – when the family are at a table, talking”. A survey of more than 3,000 UK parents, children and grandparents released to mark the new partnership between McDonald’s, the National Literacy Trust, Penguin Random House and the Roald Dahl literary estate found that although families want to spend more time reading together, a third of parents “say their own busy lives and hectic family schedules, such as after-school activities, get in the way of reading time”.

The survey also found that children want to be read to by their siblings, but just 2% of older brothers and sisters are involved in reading with the family.

Last month, Australian children’s health advocacy group the Parents’ Jury criticised the Happy Readers promotion in Australia, calling for it to be closed down for encouraging children to consume fast food in order to collect the books included in the campaign.

But Tam Fry, spokesperson for the UK National Obesity Forum, commented: “On the assumption that McDonald’s will not be branding books but will distribute them as published, introducing books to the families likely to be McDonald’s patrons can be only a good thing. McDonald’s customers will buy burgers regardless and the bonus of a book may stimulate their children. Much better than a cheap plastic toy.”

Moss said the issue of the campaign pushing fast food on children had not been raised with the National Literacy Trust, adding: “This is about kicking the reading habit off – about making it fun and enjoyable, and part of family time together.”

