KUALA LUMPUR: In an effort to bring families together and foster a reading culture among Malaysians, McDonald’s Malaysia launched its Happy Meal Readers programme today.
Under the programme, customers have the option of choosing a book from the Treetop Twins Adventures series written by Cressida Cowell, author of the bestselling How to Train Your Dragon series instead of a toy.
The book series, exclusive to McDonald’s, will feature 12 standalone stories, with one book set to be released each month throughout the year.
The pint-sized Treetop Twins Adventures series are centred on the world of dinosaurs and are available in both English and Bahasa Malaysia to cater for the Malaysian market.
McDonald’s Malaysia Marketing director, Eugene Lee said that the programme is in support of the government’s aspirations in making Malaysia a reading nation under the 10-year National Reading Decade Programme.
“We applaud the Education Ministry for encouraging all Malaysians to read and we are extremely excited that we can do our part in promoting the benefits of reading to parents and children alike,” said Lee.
To make the reading experience more fun and appealing to children, digital versions of the books have also been made available through the Happy Studio App which can be downloaded on both the Android Play Store as well as the Apple Store. Through the app, users can read the stories and interact using the online activities available.
“McDonald’s Malaysia wants to encourage families to spend more time together. The Happy Meal Readers Programme encourages parents to enjoy quality time with their children through reading,” added Lee.
“We hope that this programme will instil a lifelong love of reading among children by making it a fun activity for the whole family.”
Lee said that in the future, an exclusively Malaysian content may be considered to make the books more relevant to the Malaysian market.
