'Tis the Season for a 'Main Street' Gift-Wrap Party

Scholastic, Inc. and the American Booksellers Association are partnering to help booksellers host a community-based book-donation event this holiday season. In celebration of Ann M. Martin's Main Street series, Scholastic will donate 25 books, along with wrapping materials and announcement posters, to ABA member bookstores that sign up to host a Main Street Gift-Wrap Party. Booksellers will then donate the gift-wrapped books to a local charity of their choice.

To mark the publication of 'Tis the Season, the third book in the Main Street series, this September, Scholastic will also provide booksellers with materials for three hands-on activities for children and parents, which can be used to create in-store events or for giveaways.

As an added benefit, all stores participating in the Main Street Gift-Wrap event will be entered into a random drawing to win a visit from Ann M. Martin.

 "The holiday season is a great time to celebrate communities, families, and friendship -- themes that appear throughout Ann M. Martin's Main Street series," said Julie Amitie, Scholastic's director of retail marketing and brand management. "Scholastic is thrilled to collaborate with independent booksellers across the country to host holiday gift-wrapping events, bringing communities together and giving books to deserving children."

Scholastic is asking bookstores that would like to participate to send an e-mail -- including the store name, bookseller contact name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address -- to mainstreet@scholastic.com by October 1. Event materials will be shipped to Book Sense stores in November in a separate Book Sense mailing.

For more about the Main Street series, including games and activities, visit www.scholastic.com/mainstreet.