Cressida Cowell writes exclusive McDonald’s titles

Global fast food chain McDonald’s will this year distribute new stories by Cressida Cowell in its Happy Meal packs.

Throughout 2019 McDonald’s will give away a series called ‘The Treetop Twins Adventures’, specially written for the promotion. The 12 books in the series are about two sets of twins, Asha and Alfie and Tulip and Ted, and their parents Professors Pablo and Penelope, who encounter a real-life dinosaur. Every book contains dinosaur facts and children can access additional content such as sounds and animations via the Global Happy Meal app by scanning a QR code.

The books will be translated into 40 different languages and given out in 82 different markets.               

Silvia Lagnado, global chief marketing officer for McDonald's, said: “Helping ignite children’s love for reading is a very important pillar of our ‘Scale for Good’ initiative and we are all extremely honoured to be working with Cressida. The series she has written for us is wonderful and we can’t wait to see it getting into the lives of kids and families around the world.”

Anne McNeil, senior publisher at Hachette Children's Group, added: “It is thrilling to work with McDonald’s again on such a wide-ranging promotion. The Treetop Twins Adventures have been specially commissioned by one of our most committed and hard-working authors with the express aim of taking books to children and families. Sharing a story whilst sharing a family meal is a way of making reading fun – and we are all in favour of that.”

McDonald’s claims it has distributed 450 million books globally through its ‘Happy Meal Readers’ book programme.