Nearly 30 elementary schools in the Tucson Unified School District have a chance to win $5,000 from a local bookstore by reading more books during the next three months than their competitors.

Bookmans Entertainment Exchange kicked off a pilot project, the Bookmans Reading Challenge, on Feb. 1, marking its 30th year of selling books in the community. February was also Love of Reading Month, when many schools plan special activities to encourage students to read.The principals at 25 schools, representing 11,840 students in 550 classrooms, accepted the challenge that was extended to all the TUSD elementary schools. Students in kindergarten through the fifth-grade are competing.

Each month, the class with the highest number of books read per student will win a class field trip to Bookmans. The winner for February is from Lynn/Urquides Elementary School!  Mrs. Morales' Kinder class of 19 students averaged 86 books per student with a total of 1,673 books read!

Here is what Lynn/Urquides Librarian Sarah Molina had to say about Mrs. Morales' efforts:

Our kinder teacher, Mrs. Morales, really rallied the parents and her students.  Many of our parents are Spanish speakers and she took the time to meet with the parents and get them into our library and the public libraries in their areas.  She even  made them maps of locations of public libraries in their areas.

At the end of the challenge, the school with the highest average number of books read per student will win an unrestricted $5,000 prize. Bookmans hopes to make the challenge an annual event. Schools participating this year are: Anna Henry, Blenman, Booth- Ficket Magnet, C.E. Rose, Carrillo Intermediate Magnet, Collier, Corbett, Cragin, Drachman Primary Magnet, Fruchthendler, Hollinger, Jefferson Park, John B. Wright, Lineweaver, Lynn/ Urquides, Miller, Robins, Safford, Sam Hughes, Schumaker, Soleng Tom, Van Buskirk, Van Horne, Warren and Whitmore.