Today kicks off our year-long celebration of Clifford the Big Red Dog, who is marking 50 years of funny, sweet stories about a fantastically big red dog and the girl who loves him, Emily Elizabeth. You might know that Clifford is Scholastic’s mascot. But there’s more to it than just the big plush Cliffords that line the halls of Scholastic — the character, and the series, hold a very special place in all our hearts.

The first Clifford book was published in 1963, and since then, the world has been a bit brighter, and a whole lot bigger! There are now 126 million books in print in 13 languages, a Clifford television series – currently airing on its 12th consecutive season on PBS KIDS in the United States — and three Clifford apps are available for download. And of course, there are Clifford’s Big Ideas and the BE BIG campaign, which help spread Clifford’s gentle messages to kids.

Our building before, during, and after the banner drop!

This morning, hundreds of New York City schoolkids came by Scholastic Headquarters to help us celebrate! We had some incredibly special guests, including Norman Bridwell himself! Clifford and Emily Elizabeth were there too, and traffic stopped on Broadway as we unveiled a massive birthday banner down the front of our building. We think it was the BIGGEST birthday card ever created!

If you missed the webcast, you’ll soon be able to view it here. And there are so many other ways to celebrate, too! You can:

• Send Clifford a Birthday Card
• Enter Clifford’s BIG Birthday Sweepstakes (Win a big birthday party in your town! U.S. only)
• Download Clifford’s BIG Birthday app
• Follow all the action online — at #clifford, on Instagram (follow us at ScholasticInc and CliffordtheBigRedDog), on Facebook, and on Pinterest!

Meanwhile, the AP, NPR and School Library Journal all have fantastic (and different!) interviews with Norman Bridwell.

And finally, if you’ve ever wondered about the story behind Clifford, you’ll want to check this out. Here’s a touching, surprising video interview with Norman Bridwell and many others who helped the Big Red Dog come to life!

We also wanted to share with you some of the incredible images from this morning’s event! First, there’s the video of the banner unfurling across our building: