This is a first for me. One of my books is now available in your local shop or supermarket – in the breakfast cereal section. With boxes of Rice Krispies. ‘Mad Grandad and the Mutant River’ is part of a promotion from Kelloggs, along with Hughes & Hughes bookshops and the O’Brien Press, to sell cereal and reading material in one box.
These are the other books you can get with the Rice Krispies tokens. They are all worth checking out:
- Boo and Bear by Enda Wyley
- Bertie Rooster by Maddie Stewart
- Granny’s Teeth by Brianóg Brady Dawson
- Hazel Wood Girl by Judy May
- Epic by Conor Kostick
It is a strange experience to see one of my books on the front of a cereal packet. It brings back memories of competing with my brothers and sisters when we were kids, searching for whatever plastic toy was to be found in the bag of cereal. I think we only sent off tokens a couple of times, but there was always that excitement as we waited for the parcel in the post.
If you want to get hold of any of these books, you can collect the tokens from the packets and send them off in the time-honoured way. Or you can take the tokens to your nearest Hughes & Hughes and pick up your books directly from the shop. Me, I’d prefer to go to the bookshop. That said, it takes some serious will power for me to walk out of a bookshop without buying something. But there are so many good books and so little time (and so little shelf space in my crammed house).
We’ll be doing big promotional sessions in the shops in Dun Laoghaire and St. Stephen’s Green next month. Check with the shops for details.
It’s funny, but giving books away with cereal seems to be big news. Word has even reached as far away as Los Angeles. I know Kelloggs make a big thing about how loud Rice Krispies are, but that’s ridiculous.