I love this idea and I'm pleased to see that the folks who bring us the Cheerios breakfast cereal have brought the program back for its sixth year. Let's face it. Way too many breakfast cereals aimed at children are not really something that most parents want to see their kids eating on a regular basis. Cheerios, on the other hand, is one of those cereals that parents don't have to feel guilty about placing in front of their children in the morning. And now, in a program that started again on November 12, some five million children's books will be placed inside boxes of Cheerios until they are all gone.Children love to get "prizes" with their meals these days. Thanks to McDonald's, Burger King, and the Sonic people, they are disappointed if they don't get something, in fact. And we all remember how much fun it was when we were children to get some toy from inside a cereal box. What better than a book? How cool is that?
In addition, Cheerios is again working with First Book, an award-winning children's literacy nonprofit, to give a year's worth of children's books to 50 reading programs serving disadvantaged children across the country. Over the past six years, Cheerios has donated more than $2.5 million to support First Book and its mission: to help get brand new books to children from low-income families....
This year's book offerings from Cheerios are five great titles from Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, including a book that Cheerios had specially printed in both English and Spanish.
LiteracyNews.com has details on the five books being given away. And to make it easy for parents to get all five books without ending up with unwanted duplicates, the Cheerios boxes have special windows on the front that show which book is inside. The books should last until early spring 2008 according to General Mills but you can start looking for them on grocery store shelves now.
Love, love, love this idea! :)
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Joy. General Mills deserves a big round of applause for this one.
ReplyDeleteYay for Cheerios! If I find some books in my cereal boxes, I'm torn between keeping the for myself for when friends' kids come over, or donating them.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool program. Good for them!
ReplyDeleteNow that's pretty cool!! Man, I would have loved to get books in my boxes of cereal as a kid! Would have made eating Cheerios a much better experience!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a cool givaway, isn't it, Annie? :-)
ReplyDeleteGotta love it, Heather. I know that some of the fast food places have given books on occasion, too, so it's not new...but five million books is a huge number.
ReplyDeleteI often influenced my mother to buy our breakfast cereal based on what was in the box as a prize...but I can't remember it ever being a book.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Cheerios anyway, in milk or dry, so this would be a no brainer for me if I were a kid.
Great idea! First Book is a great non-profit. If you're not familiar with it, you should check it out.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember ever seeing this program before, but if these books are in Cheerio boxes in Canada, I'm going out today to buy Cheerios. LOL
ReplyDeleteI'll check it out, Lisa. Thanks. I'm not familiar with the detail behind the group.
ReplyDeleteDid you find books in Canadian Cheerios, Historia? Just curious...
ReplyDeleteNeat-o! And Things That Are Most in the World is one of my all-time favourites!!!
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