McDonald’s have announced that they will be giving away 14 million abridged Roald Dahl books, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, Penguin Random House, and the Roald Dahl Literacy Estate. 

Eight different books will be given away with Happy Meals, each containing themed extracts from his most famous books, including ‘The BFG’, ‘The Twits’ and ‘Matilda’. Since 2013, Mcdonald’s has given over 22.8 million books away through its Happy Readers initiative, which aims to put a focus on increasing book ownership and encouraging children in the UK to begin to love reading. Steve Hill, Head of Marketing at McDonald’s UK, said, “Dads like me grew up on the magic of Roald Dahl and his extraordinary characters.” He claimed he was “thrilled we’re able to introduce the likes of Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and the wonderfully ludicrous Twits to a new generation of readers.”

In addition to this, McDonald’s UK has also developed an app, the first of its kind, to bring Roald Dahl books to life. Using voice recognition, it plays relevant sounds and visuals when it hears trigger words. 

McDonald’s have also released the results of a survey of 3,000 children, parents and grandparents, revealing the ultimate ingredients of a story teller. You can view them here.