SALISBURY — Within the pages of a book, a child can discover themselves and the world they inhabit, but sometimes, getting them to open that first page can be a challenge.

Through a collaborative partnership with a local McDonald’s and the Pedal Factory, Communities in Schools Rowan has been hosting weekly reading nights to encourage children to read.

“This was the first year we have done this,” Communities in Schools Director James Davis said.

The program drew inspiration from “old school reading nights,” which were fixtures for years. Every Tuesday night for the past several weeks, parents and guardians have packed the lobby at the East Innes Street McDonald’s in Salisbury for reading night. At the events, children receive books and participate in storytime, have colored and decorated the lobby and also celebrated other children’s reading milestones.

Davis indicated that Communities in Schools has done some work with McDonald’s People Experience Lead Dawn Dandridge at smaller events. Dandridge fondly remembers reading nights, especially books by Judy Blume and V.C. Andrews, and was happy to be a part of bringing it back for the younger generation.

“It was a childhood memory,” Dandridge said. “I did summer reading programs as a kid. It was fun. I thought if we did it before, we could McDonaldize it.”

While the reading nights present obvious benefits like incentivizing reading, Dandridge pointed to other ways in which the social aspect of it aided family and community development.

“You have to look at it like it’s family time,” Dandridge said. “The parents sit in there with the kids. They can read with them and talk about the book. If they get to spend 30 minutes together, parents don’t have to cook, come in and have a happy meal and have a good time with their kids, then it’s a good thing.”

Davis acknowledged that making reading fun and exciting was at the core of this mission but added that sometimes encouraging a stubborn reader can take a little more motivation. That is where the Pedal Factory came in.

As a reward system, with every five books that the children read, they advance up a tiered chart, which, for fun, features McDonald’s characters.

“You start out as Fry Guy, Birdie the Early Bird, Grimace, Hamburlgar and then Ronald McDonald,” Davis said.

With each passing tier, their name is entered into a raffle. Next week’s event, which is the last one of the year, will be held on Wednesday. A name will be drawn from the raffle, with the winner receiving a voucher to the Pedal Factory for a new bike and safety equipment.

“That agreement made it more engaging because the kids know there is a bigger prize to win,” Davis said.

Wednesday’s festivities will also feature two interactive puppet shows by the Lurnsters.

“We call it a puppet extravaganza,” Davis said. “They have music and dancing and everything else with the kids to get them hyped to go back to school.”

There will be two shows, one at 4:45 p.m. and another at 5 p.m.

If someone is unable to attend the Wednesday night event, the Lurnsters will be doing a walkthrough performance at the McDonald’s on Saturday at 9 a.m. Davis said he hoped anyone interested in seeing the performance but that was unable to come on Wednesday would consider coming on Saturday.

This might have been the first year of the pilot program, but if Davis and Dandridge have their way, it won’t be the last.

“We have parents who have asked about doing this long term,” Davis said.

Dandridge added, “Im hoping to do this again in the future. The way I look at it is this year one. We can go further.”

McDonald’s is located at 704 E. Innes St., Salisbury. Wednesday’s event begins at 4 p.m.