The numbers are in for the first month of Bookmans' Reading Challenge and this year's competition is set to be our biggest yet! Now in its third year, the Challenge has expanded from Tucson and the Phoenix area to include Flagstaff, which means we're giving away $15,000 - $5,000 to a winning school in each participating market.

"I am very excited by the results from the first month of the Challenge here in Tucson," says Tamara Jones, Bookmans' Community Relation in Tucson. "Everyone did an amazing job and all the participating schools should be very proud of their hard work."

Numbers are still trickling in but we're excited to announce that, so far, Arizona elementary students have read nearly 73,000 books in February:

Phoenix: 25,653
Flagstaff: 8,067
Tucson: 41,256

And we're also pleased to announce that the following classes had the highest average of books read per student in February. They have each earned a field trip to Bookmans.

Phoenix: Mrs. Slavick's First Grade class at Desert Winds Elementary School
Flagstaff: Mrs. Donnelly's Kindergarten class at Cromer Elementary School
Tucson: Mrs. Shea's Kindergarten class at Hermosa Montessori Charter School