Cheerios Serves Up Six Million Children's Books Inside Boxes this Fall

Cheerios Serves Up Six Million Children's Books Inside Boxes this Fall; Que Bueno! All Five Books Are Specially Printed in English and Spanish
Reuters: Oct 12, 2009

Bedtime stories are a tradition for many families, but this fall families are invited to also START their day with a great book.

Beginning in October 2009, Cheerios® is again bringing books to the breakfast table, by providing six million children's books free inside Cheerios boxes.

"Parents and caregivers play an important role in nurturing children's love of reading, by reading with their child every day," said Jeff Hingher, Cheerios marketing manager. "We hope this simple action of putting great books inside Cheerios boxes can make it easier for families to enjoy a book together, and help set the foundation for more children to grow up as readers."

Cheerios is also making a financial donation to First Book, an award-winning children's nonprofit organization that gets new books to children from low-income families. "For many kids, just having a book to read is the biggest obstacle to learning," said Kyle Zimmer, president of First Book.

Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories kicks off during Give a Child a Book Week, October 12 - 19. With the help of Cheerios' financial support, First Book will give a year's worth of books to every child participating in 50 selected reading programs, one in each state across the country.

This year's book offerings from Cheerios - all by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing - are:

Junkyard Fort – Jon Scieszka
Tea for Ruby – The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson
Sleepyhead – Karma Wilson
Ballyhoo Bay – Judy Sierra
What's Under the Bed? – Joe Fenton

Families can see which book is inside through a special cut-out window on the front of the box, so they can select the specific book they want, or collect all 5.

READ MORE !"1 Zany Zoo" by Lori Degman Wins the Cheerios® Spoonfuls of Stories® Children's Book contest! Watch for it: March 2010.