Maisy-Themed Literacy Campaigns Ready for Takeoff
By Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 2/28/2008
The star of more than 100 books, Lucy Cousins’s Maisy has two new roles to play. This energetic young mouse is the featured character in a pair of literacy initiatives: the first-ever “Fly with US. Read with Kids” campaign, spearheaded by US Airways and Reading Is Fundamental, and Pizza Hut’s annual BOOK IT! Beginners program. Published by Candlewick, the Maisy books span a spectrum of formats and have sold more than 7.7 million copies in the U.S. since first appearing in 1992.
Calling Maisy’s appearance in two simultaneous promotions “a very happy coincidence,” Jeanne Emanuel, Candlewick’s v-p of sales, says that RIF approached a number of publishers in search of a book about flight to use in its campaign with US Airways. “We thought Maisy was just the right character to pitch and we had published a lift-the-flap book, How Will You Get There, Maisy? in which she takes an airplane ride,” she explains. “All parties fell in love with Lucy’s appealing art and Maisy was chosen for the campaign.”
For this initiative, Candlewick reformatted How Will You Get There, Maisy?, repackaged it into Come Fly with Maisy, and printed 300,000 copies. The paperback, which also contains activities, will be distributed in seat pockets on US Airways domestic flights during the month of March. The campaign also includes a donation of 80,000 books to 25,000 children in RIF programs across the country. US Airways’ 3,300-member employee volunteer corps, the Do Crew, will participate in book distribution and will help conduct reading rallies.
This airline and RIF are also launching the “Read with Kids Challenge,” which encourages adults to read with children with the goal of logging one million reading minutes during March, April and May. Those who register their minutes on line on RIF's Web site will qualify to win prizes provided by US Airways, including a trip to Disney World.
Maisy also graces the promotional materials for this year’s Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Beginners initiative, scheduled to run from March 3rd to April 25th. This reading motivation program, which reaches more than 1.7 million elementary students annually, provides interactive classroom materials to schools, including posters for teachers to use to record the titles of books they read aloud. Parents are also encouraged to establish a regular read-aloud routine at home and to keep track of the books they share with their children. Each child participating in the program receives a certificate for a free pizza and an activity and sticker sheet from Pizza Hut.
“I am very pleased when Maisy is involved in any literacy program, because helping children enjoy reading from an early age is so important,” Cousins says, noting that her character’s role in the two concurrent initiatives has made Maisy the “spokesmouse” of the moment for literacy. “And it is great to reach children who perhaps don’t have access to books on a regular basis,” she adds. “It is wonderful to think that Maisy might be helping nurture a love of reading that will last a lifetime.”
Fans can look forward to a number of new Maisy titles this spring, summer and fall. This month Candlewick published Maisy’s Nature Walk, a pull-tab tale. Maisy Goes to the Museum is due in July, and August will bring the first four Maisy Stroll-Alongs, chunky board books with bands that clip on to strollers or car seats. Also in August, five classic Maisy stories will be reissued in new editions with a more uniform look. And three new books are due this fall: Maisy’s Christmas Day, Count with Maisy Board Book and Number Blocks and Maisy House and Garden, a pop-up play set.
Candlewick is promoting its latest Maisy titles with a stock offer promotion, in which retailers who purchase a minimum of 35 backlist titles will receive an extra 4% discount as well as a story hour kit, “Maisy Lives Here” shelf talkers, a die-cut Maisy standee, an “open/closed” door sign and a toddler-sized corrugated cardboard Maisy playhouse.
