Hattiesburg Reads

Hattiesburg, Miss. - The City of Hattiesburg made the extra effort Friday trying to encourage children to read at an early age.

Hattiesburg Reads was unveiled at the Burger King on Broadway Drive.

Burger King is Hattiesburg Reads first business partner to build a library lounge inside its restaurant.

Hattiesburg Mayor, Johnny DuPree said, "The owners, and franchisees, and the managers here have been phenomenal with buying in to the project. They believe in this. You have this thing about reading is fundamental. I mean it's not a cliché. They really understand how important reading is and literacy is in America, especially today."

Burger King managing director, Colin Brooks said, "Our district manager, our multi-manager, Joan Anderson, met some people with the city at the "Night Out Against Crime" that they had at the end of the last year. And they started talking about it and it grew from that. They asked us if we would be interested in partnering with them to have books available to kids, and we thought it was a fantastic idea."

Kids can come in free and read books inside Burger King or they can also take the books home and read it there.

Kids can get a free ice cream or a free icee after ten visits.