The next mass media campaign by Starbucks has been launched, and the lucky sell-out is the gooey, cheesy author Mitch Albom. (You know him from Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven.) Abom's next book, For One More Day hits the syrup quota with a plot revolving around man who has one more day left with his dying mother. And Starbucks is slurping it up quicker than the "you can not read the New York Times without an Iced Grande Sugar Free Skim Vanilla Latte" promo.

For One More Day is the next "exclusively in Starbucks" sale, coming on the heels of Ray Charles CDs and Ethos water — and like with Ethos, Starbucks will contribute $1 per sale to a good cause. In this case, pre-schoolers who don't have the advantages of parents who read to them. And it's just wonderful they're putting this great piece of American literature in a sanctuary like Starbucks, where everyone can get access to it.

“It’s so difficult to reach beyond the traditional audience for books,” said Robert Miller, president of Hyperion. “There are so many millions of people that go through a Starbucks every day, and if some of those people become aware of a new book because of this program then it’s a good thing for all of us.”

So true. Just think of the hundreds of single mothers working for $6 an hour at Starbucks who will be encouraged to come home after work and read this wonderful book to their babies.

Starbucks Picks Novel to Start Its Book-Sale Program [Motoko Rich, New York Times]