Cheerios Offers Books by the Bowlful

For the seventh year running, General Mills’ Cheerios brand will make reading a part of kids’ daily nutritional requirements with its “Spoonfuls of Stories” promotion, putting 5 million copies of five new children’s book titles inside cereal boxes.

The kids’ reading campaign kicked off yesterday, the beginning of National Give a Child a Book Week, and will continue at least through the month of October.

“Spoonfuls of Stories” will offer in-package titles with appeal for a wide range of ages from two through eight and for youngsters of both sexes, including “Duck for President,” “When Dinosaurs Came with Everything” and “Monkey and Me.” One of the offered titles features branded characters from Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer” program. All five titles are published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Interestingly, Cheerios is arranging to have three of the five titles printed in both English and Spanish versions.

Shoppers will be able to see which title is enclosed via a special cutout window on the front of the boxes. The titles have been specially sized for packaging inside cereal boxes and include all the original content and illustrations.

Families can find out more about the titles in this year’s campaign. The Web site also offers activities and tips designed to encourage kids to read.

The Cheerios brand is also working with First Book, a Washington D.C.-based children’s literacy group, to donate a year’s worth of kids’ literature to every child participating in sponsored reading programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“Every year, we review 50 to 80 books and with input from literacy experts and parents, we choose five books that we hope children and parents will enjoy,” Cheerios marketing manager Jeff Hingher said in a statement. “This year we are also specially printing three of the five books, or three million in total, in English and Spanish.”

Over the past seven years, Cheerios has donated almost $3 million to help First Book get new books to children from low-income families and has distributed 35 million titles through the “Spoonfuls of Stories” program.

“The fact is that more than 60% of low-income families do not have any age-appropriate books for their children to read,” First Book president Kyle Zimmer said in a statement. “Having books available at home is critical for every child to learn the basics of reading. Cheerios has helped reach so many children and helped provide a library of outstanding children’s books that families and children of all ages can enjoy.”