Scholastic Hits the Road This Summer With Free Pop-Up Reading Festivals

If your kids get giddy when the Scholastic book fair comes to their school, they’ll totally geek out to see a colorfully decorated Scholastic RV roll through their town this summer.

Scholastic, the popular children’s book publisher, is packing up two RVs and going on a summer road trip to bring pop-up reading festivals to 27 cities across the country. The tour starts Saturday, June 30, in San Carlos, California, and will continue until its last stop July 28 in Franklin, Tennessee.

The events are designed to get kids ages 12 and under excited about reading over the summer. There will be hands-on activities, prizes, visits from authors and illustrators and even special appearances from costumed fictional characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog.

These family-friendly festivals are free, which parents will love.

Josephine Djonovic, an associate publicist for Scholastic, told The Penny Hoarder the festivals will feature interactive stations where kids can create crafts, color, take photos, hear stories and pick up posters, bookmarks, stickers and chapter samples to take home.

The stations have special themes, including one in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Harry Potter series and another that celebrates author Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” and “Dog Man” series. There will also be a station just for children ages 5 and under.

Djonovic said some of the authors and illustrators who will host meet-and-greets at select stops along the summer tour will be Tui Sutherland (author of the “Wings of Fire” series), Peter Reynolds (author and illustrator of “The Dot”), Sandra Magsamen (author of “I Love You Beary Much”) and Troy Cummings (author and illustrator of “The Notebook of Doom” series).

Scholastic’s summer reading road trip will stop in the following cities over the next four weeks:

• June 30 — San Carlos, California
• July 1 — Plainville, Massachusetts
• July 3 — Brewster, Massachusetts
• July 3 — Dublin, California
• July 5 — Dedham, Massachusetts
• July 5 — Northborough, Massachusetts
• July 6 — Salt Lake City, Utah
• July 8 — Tempe, Arizona
• July 9 — Lake Placid, New York
• July 11 — Montclair, New Jersey
• July 12 — Jersey City, New Jersey
• July 12 — Edmond, Oklahoma
• July 13 — Wichita, Kansas
• July 14 — Collegeville, Pennsylvania
• July 14 — Rogers, Arkansas
• July 16 — St. Louis, Missouri
• July 16 — Durham, North Carolina
• July 17 — Winston-Salem, North Carolina
• July 18 — Brevard, North Carolina
• July 20 — Marietta, Georgia
• July 20 — Athens, Georgia
• July 20 — Oak Creek, Wisconsin
• July 22 — Delaware, Ohio
• July 23 — Canton, Ohio
• July 24 — Sardis, Mississippi
• July 24 — Memphis, Tennessee
• July 28 — Franklin, Tennessee

This Scholastic blog post shares more details on when and where each city’s event will take place.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She absolutely loved Scholastic book fairs when she was a kid.