Running from Tuesday 9th to Monday 15th of February, U.S. branches of McDonalds will be replacing the usual toys in their happy meals with children's books.

Three of the four books available will have a Valentine's Day theme: Clark the Shark Takes Heart by Bruce Hale; Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond, Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day Is Cool by Kimberly and James Dean, and last but not least, Paddington by Michael Bond.

The chain are working in tandem with publishing house HarperCollins and literacy nonprofit organization Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), and are aiming to give away fifty million copies of the books, which would be "enough to provide a book to every child in America under the age of 12", according to Carol H Rasco, president and CEO of RIF.