Many schools host book character parades to celebrate the joy of reading, and this fall, Scholastic decided to discover which ones go all out to orchestrate the most awesome results. So we created a contest using bestselling author Eric Litwin’s The Fantastic Scholastic Book Parade – a fun, catchy song he wrote to help schools create even more excitement for books, reading, and the Book Fair.
Joining the festivities and competing for prizes was easy. Students, teachers, administrators and parents were all invited to appear in the parade carrying their favorite books, dressed as their favorite characters, or holding “groovy” handmade signs and banners.
As Litwin’s song played over the school intercom, parade participants wended their way through the hallways. Each school captured the parade on video or as still images and posted their event on social media with the hashtags #bookparade and #groovyjoe to be entered in the contest.
The Grand Prize winner—St. Anne’s Catholic School in Bristol Virginia—received an in-school visit by author Litwin and a classroom set of his books Groovy Joe: Ice Cream & Dinosaurs and Groovy Joe: Dance Party Countdown. Eleven runner-up schools received autographed hardcover copies of both books.
Take a look at some of the entries, including the winning video here!
Thank you to all who participated and congratulations to all who won!
Guest post by Frank Loose, Senior Marketing Manager, Scholastic Book Fairs
Photos by Earl Niekirk, courtesy Bristol Herald Courier
