Contact:
Josephine Djonovic, Scholastic, 212-343-6876, jdjonovic@scholastic.com
Alexandra Wladich, Scholastic, 212-965-7353, awladich@scholastic.com

NEW YORK – September 27, 2017 – This fall, more than 890,000 children from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., two U.S. territories and 14 countries are returning to school reading-ready thanks to their participation in the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge™. Throughout the summer, students read over 138 million minutes, and today, Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, is honoring the top school in each state and select U.S. territories with the most minutes read, awarding them the title of “Best in State” school. Additionally, Scholastic is honoring the top five public libraries and top five community-based organizations that logged the most minutes nationwide. All honorees will receive a commemorative plaque and a celebration kit in recognition of their summer reading accomplishments and will be featured in the 2018 Scholastic Book of World Records to be released on October 31, 2017.

To learn more about program and see the full list of winners, visit www.scholastic.com/summer.

The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is designed to help kids turn the “summer slide”—the learning loss which can occur over the summer months—into a “summer leap” by discovering the power and joy of reading for fun. This year’s theme, “Happy Camper: Take a Reading Adventure,” came to life featuring beloved Scholastic characters, including custom Dog Man illustrations from Dav Pilkey, bestselling author and illustrator of the Captain Underpants and Dog Man series and our Scholastic Summer Reading Global Ambassador. The program offered kids the chance to log their reading minutes to earn digital prizes as they completed weekly reading challenges, gaining access to 18 reading activities, including games, quizzes and videos based on popular children’s books. Parents and families also had access to free summer reading resources, including booklists across all age groups in both English and Spanish.

The 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge “Best in State” schools and U.S. territories and their minutes read:

“Best in State” Schools:

• Alabama: Williams Intermediate School, Pell City (971,925)
• Alaska: Sand Lake Elementary School, Anchorage (92,954)
• Arizona: American Leadership Academy Anthem South K-6, Florence (1,211,877)
• Arkansas: The New School, Fayetteville (263,312)
• California: Hirsch Elementary School, Fremont (1,200,096)
• Colorado: Prospect Ridge Academy, Broomfield (338,915)
• Connecticut: Scotland Elementary School, Scotland (270,206)
• Delaware: Las Américas ASPIRA Academy, Newark (296,341)
• District of Columbia: Holy Trinity School, Washington, D.C. (26,405)
• Florida: New River Elementary School, Wesley Chapel (5,536,782)
• Georgia: Dodgen Middle School, Marietta (713,425)
• Hawaii: Laie Elementary School, Laie (174,303)
• Idaho: Peregrine Elementary School, Meridian (1,111,959)
• Illinois: Walnut Trails Elementary School, Shorewood (281,736)
• Indiana: Allisonville Elementary School, Indianapolis (381,807)
• Iowa: Resurrection Catholic School, Dubuque (192,447)
• Kansas: St. Thomas Aquinas School, Wichita (356,719)
• Kentucky: Lowe Elementary School, Louisville (633,281)
• Louisiana: Lisa Park Elementary School, Houma (6,101,119)
• Maine: Brewer Community School, Brewer (390,481)
• Maryland: Bradley Hills Elementary School, Bethesda (535,498)
• Massachusetts: James M. Quinn Elementary School, North Dartmouth (946,163)
• Michigan: Daisy Brook Elementary School, Fremont (1,687,149)
• Minnesota: Maranatha Christian Academy, Brooklyn Park (497,566)
• Mississippi: Annunciation Catholic School, Columbus (672,794)
• Missouri: Spoede Elementary School, Saint Louis (191,466)
• Montana: Roosevelt Elementary School, Great Falls (140,326)
• Nebraska: West Dodge Station Elementary School, Elkhorn (528,000)
• Nevada: Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas - Tamarus, Las Vegas (5,894)
• New Hampshire: Rochester Middle School, Rochester (308,234)
• New Jersey: Newell Elementary School, Allentown (1,582,783)
• New Mexico: University Hills Elementary School, Las Cruces (502,863)
• New York: Village Elementary School, Hilton (996,027)
• North Carolina: Ballantyne Elementary School, Charlotte (876,114)
• North Dakota: Erik Ramstad Middle School, Minot (762,773)
• Ohio: Mulberry Elementary School, Milford (263,788)
• Oklahoma: Northeast Elementary School, Owasso (218,580)
• Oregon: Holy Cross Catholic School, Portland (237,718)
• Pennsylvania: Bridge Valley Elementary School, Furlong (1,784,986)
• Rhode Island: Dr. Harry L. Halliwell Memorial School, North Smithfield (469,419)
• South Carolina: Oakridge Elementary School, Clover (137,064)
• South Dakota: Castlewood Public School, Castlewood (31,152)
• Tennessee: Crosswind Elementary School, Collierville (718,583)
• Texas: Carroll Academy, Houston (3,678,753)
• Utah: Freedom Academy, Provo (65,195)
• Vermont: Calais Elementary School, Plainfield (42,374)
• Virginia: Ashburn Elementary School, Ashburn (1,500,831)
• Washington: Highlands Elementary School, Renton (284,005)
• West Virginia: St. Francis Central Catholic School, Morgantown (824,560)
• Wisconsin: Riverdale Elementary School, Muscoda (198,968)
• Wyoming: Little Snake River Valley School, Baggs (182,269)

U.S. Territories:

• Puerto Rico: Robinson School, San Juan (97,579)
• U.S. Virgin Islands: Joseph A. Gomez Elementary School, St. Thomas (14,500)

The 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge top libraries and community partners and their minutes read:

Libraries:

• Cobb County Library, Marietta, GA (1,231,910)
• Pickford Community Library, Pickford, MI (235,765)
• Sykesville Public Library, Sykesville, PA (61,545)
• Smyrna Public Library, Smyrna, GA (58,248)
• Horsham Township Library, Horsham, PA (5,490)

Community Partners:

• Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, Troop 2825, Bel Air, MD (20,439)
• America Reads-Mississippi, Jackson, MS (19,804)
• QD Learning, Anaheim, CA (13,418)
• Hollywood Community Housing, Los Angeles, CA (8,581)
• Torrey Smith Family Fund, Rockville, MD (5,980)

“Scholastic is immensely proud of the students who joined the 2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and read all summer long, taking their own reading adventures and logging more than 138 million minutes,” said Michael Haggen, Chief Academic Officer, Scholastic Education. “Thanks to the encouragement and support of their families, educators, public libraries and community organizations, these students have returned to school ready to learn and prepared for the current school year.”

2017 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge highlights:

• Nearly 4,000 schools, libraries and community partners participated in this year’s Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge.
• Students from the U.S. and around the world read a whopping total of 138,399,392 minutes! That’s the fifth year in a row kids logged more than 100 million minutes.
• The top five U.S. states with the most summer reading minutes read by children are: Texas (28,468,135 reading minutes), Florida (10,243,733 reading minutes), Pennsylvania (7,967,560 reading minutes), Louisiana (7,782,666 minutes) and Massachusetts (7,275,762 reading minutes).
• For the second year in a row, Scholastic sent two traveling Summer Reading Road Trip RVs across the U.S. to highlight the importance of summer reading and host reading festivals for kids and families in 50 cities. The RVs journeyed more than 10,000 miles from May through July and featured bestselling Scholastic authors and reading activities.
• Three U.S. Governors and 42 Gubernatorial Spouses and 1 Lt. Governor signed on as Reading Ambassadors to help spread the message to kids in their respective states and territories about the importance of reading during the summer months. Scholastic donated 500 books to the school of each Reading Ambassador’s choice (for a total of 23,000 books), and many of the Ambassadors hosted reading events at these schools.

For more information about Scholastic and the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, please visit mediaroom.scholastic.com/SummerReadingChallenge.

Click the image below to open a hi-res version in a new window