These new books are the next step in McDonald's South Africa's (SA) journey to encourage literacy while promoting children's exposure to different languages.

isiZulu is one of South Africa's 11 official languages and has roughly 12 million native speakers, according to the 2011 census.

Approximately 24% of South Africans speak it as a first language and over 50% as a second language. As one of the Nguni languages, it is closely related to other major languages such as isiXhosa, isiSwati and isiNdebele, and is the language that most English, Afrikaans and foreign speakers choose when learning a South African language.

According to the brand, in a nation where 80% of people speak a language other than English as their first language, McDonald's SA is proud to address literacy issues with language diversity in mind.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2016 revealed that 78% of grade four learners cannot read for meaning in any language. Local African languages make up just 2% of children's books that are commercially published in South Africa.

The brand says that as a company that prides itself on diversity and its commitment to fostering community, McDonald's SA has been offering children's books, as an alternate option to toys, with every purchase of a McDonald's Happy Meal, since 2019.

"The ongoing literacy crisis in South Africa requires that organisations who care about the future of this country contribute towards encouraging a love and culture of reading," says Telma Tsironis, marketing director at McDonald's South Africa.

"If we want to increase children's literacy and love for reading, we must develop meaningful stories in vernacular languages," Tsironis adds.

South Africa's culture is firmly based on the beautiful art of storytelling, from the old ritual of telling children stories around a fire during mealtimes to the present tradition of reading bedtime stories.

'Little People, Big Dreams I can be' is a series of stories by children's book author Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara. Through this series, McDonald's aims to bring the magic of storytelling to every Happy Meal and encourages children to dream big.

Titles to be made available in isiZulu include:
  • I Can Be a Sports Champion, which features the stories of world champion boxer Muhammad Ali and other sports heroes.
  • I Can Be a Brave Adventurer, which features the story of the first woman pilot, Amelia Earhart among other adventure pioneers.
  • I Can Be an Innovative Designer, which features Frida Kahlo for children to read about art legends.
"We are proud to introduce the Little people, Big dreams I Can Be series, which will be available in English and isiZulu. We want to encourage parents to read to their children while introducing a world of possibilities to South Africa's young minds," concludes Tsironis.

For more information, visit www.mcdonalds.co.za. You can also follow McDonald's South Africa on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.