McDonald’s will give away 50 million books by the end of 2016

Let’s all give a round of applause to McDonald’s, who is this close to having distributed more than 50 million books to children. By the end of 2016, they’ll have achieved this goal. They’ve managed this through several initiatives, but their most recent involves giving out books instead of toys with Happy Meals.

From now until February 15th, a child could receive one of four books with their food: Clark the Shark Takes Heart by Bruce Hale and illustrated by Guy Francis, Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond, Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day Is Cool by Kimberly and James Dean, and Paddington by Michael Bond and illustrated by R. W. Alley.

This is so important for a number of reasons, which Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of reading advocacy organization Reading is Fundamental, outlined in a statement:

Furthermore, studies have proven that, “the number of books in a home directly predicts a child’s proficiency at reading.” This is a simple way to make sure that at least one book could end up in the hands of a child who needs it.

But this isn’t all. McDonalds has also donated 100,000 books from this year’s Happy Meal Books program to Reading is Fundamental, taking that extra step to ensure that as many children as possible grow up with the joy of reading.