Simon Properties kicks off its second Book Blast event next week with an expanded promotional slate.
The Feb. 19-March 13 blast brings book-centered activities and celebrity readers to 88 malls. Local celebs read kids’ books for the crowd; families participate in activities that star popular book characters (including some characters in costume).
Simon will collect donated books from shoppers, then distribute them to local charities. Members of Simon’s Kidgits Club also get a branded seat cushion and a goody bag with Crayola Color Wonder Fingerpaints and premiums from publisher partners Candlewick Press, Harcourt and Scholastic.
Book Blast is part of the Kidgits Club promotional calendar for Indianapolis-based Simon. The kids club, which caters to kids up to seven years old, has 200,000 members.
Simon plans to add 17 Kidgits Korner play areas this year (for a total of 47, 14 of them new in 2004) and is prepping to license Kidgits Club characters, probably for 2006 (Dec. 22 P&I).