McDonalds in Israel offers children's books as Happy Meal gifts

The campaign was created to urge children to read and produced books that can only be purchased exclusively through McDonald's with a Happy Meal.

A McDonald's restaurant's drive-thru sign is pictured in Los Angeles April 4, 2011. Fast-food chain McDonald's Corp, trying to grab positive headlines in an economic recovery still struggling to create living-wage jobs, announced on Monday that it would do all of its spring hiring in one fell swoop. (photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
A McDonald's restaurant's drive-thru sign is pictured in Los Angeles April 4, 2011. Fast-food chain McDonald's Corp, trying to grab positive headlines in an economic recovery still struggling to create living-wage jobs, announced on Monday that it would do all of its spring hiring in one fell swoop.
(photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)
McDonald's in Israel has joined the company's international initiative, which offers the option of receiving a children's book instead of a toy with every children's meal, or Happy Meal.
The campaign was created to urge children to read and produced books that can only be purchased through McDonald's with a Happy Meal. They were all written by Cressida Cowell, the children's author who wrote the famous How To Train Your Dragon book series.
The initiative in Israel began on Thursday and offers one of 12 books in a series written by Cowell made specifically for the fast food chain. The books have been translated to 40 languages so far, and a total of half a billion have been distributed to customers.
The title of the book translates from Hebrew to The Everforest Twins: Adventures in the Wild World. It discusses a family, led by scientist parents, with two pairs of twins. In each segment, the family travels through time and space to study the behavior of exotic and rare animals.
The books will be distributed both in Hebrew and Arabic. The Happy Meal app will also offer copies of the books in a digital format.