Children may feel fine with some summer reading if they check out Scholastic’s recreational vehicle that will visit the city of Delaware this weekend for the first time.
The book publisher selected Fundamentals Children’s Books, Toys, & Games store, 25 W. Winter St., as the local stop on its tour of 50 U.S. cities and towns during its 2017 Summer Reading Road Trip.
“I’m really excited about this event,” said Tami Furlong, the bookstore’s owner. “… there’s only five stops in the whole Midwest.”
This is Scholastic’s second year doing the road trips, Furlong noted.
The trip’s intent is to encourage children, ages 12 and younger, to read this summer, according to Scholastic officials. The bookstore will have a pop-up reading festival with Winter Street closed off from the edge of the Bun’s Restaurant parking lot to Franklin Street from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Furlong said she’s not sure why the publisher selected her store to host the festival, but believes the publisher’s sales representative submitted her store for consideration. And she said her previous events with the company have attracted huge turnouts and sold many books.
“We’ve done a lot of really big, good events for Scholastic in the last couple years,” Furlong said. “… We’ve been really noticed the last few years.”
The festival will include a tent filled with reading activities, giveaway tables with a prize wheel, and costumed characters from children’s literature such as Clifford the Big Red Dog and Geronimo Stilton. A book signing is also planned, featuring Jim Benton, author of the “Dear Dumb Diary” series; Troy Cummings, author of “The Notebook of Doom” series; and Jason Tharp, author of “Super Monsta Friends.”
“The road trip gives me a chance to meet my readers outside of school, and talk shop. I love to hear what they’re working on over the summer — or better yet, see their work,” Cummings said in a prepared statement. “There are usually a few students who bring notebooks filled with monsters they’ve created; it is so cool to see kids engaging with books this way! At this age, my readers are more like my colleagues — my fellow writer/illustrators. And I gotta say, I’m a big fan of their work!”
The rain location for the event will be at 27 W. Winter St., next door to the bookstore.
For information about Scholastic’s road trip, visit www.scholastic.com/summerroadtrip.
For information about the local event, visit www.funbooksandmore.com/special-events.
