Salt & Straw Debuts Rad Readers Menu In Collaboration With Scholastic

Beloved artisan ice cream company Salt & Straw has collaborated with Scholastic Inc. for its whimsical Rad Readers menu this summer.

Launching May 28th and available through July 1st online for nationwide shipping, at local scoop shops, and for local delivery, the Rad Readers menu brings “Scoops of Stories”, pulling inspiration from five books to bring the magic of reading to life with imaginative flavors.

Dive into a book while diving into a scoop

This menu hopes to encourage summer reading through the joys of ice cream, inspiring children to dive into a book while diving into a scoop.

“Throughout the pandemic, education in America has completely shifted. One thing we feel that hasn’t changed is the transportive nature of reading a book, no matter where you are, it brings excitement and wonder. At Salt & Straw, we have an infatuation with the word “wonder,” it has a magnetic draw that sucks you in and makes our customers want to learn more, dig deeper, taste greater when eating our ice cream.”

“Our Rad Readers menu has given us the opportunity to work with some of the greatest children’s book authors in the world, and together, we channeled every whimsical, thoughtful, and taste-provoking page into five ice creams. Our hope is to inspire kids to do the same.” – Tyler Malek, Head Ice Cream Maker & Co-Founder of Salt & Straw.

“We are thrilled to work with Salt & Straw to create these flavors that celebrate the joy of reading. After a challenging year of remote and hybrid schooling, kids deserve to kick off summer with a wonderful assortment of books and ice cream!” – Erin Berger, SVP of Marketing, Scholastic.

Summer reading has never been sweeter

Salt & Straw’s Tyler Malek collaborated with each author to bring the tales to life with unique flavor pairings. Embodying the spirit of wondrous adventure, Tyler and team have churned five dreamy flavors that offer an escape into a thrilling new journey.

Goosebumps: Monster Blood is Back! (Goosebumps by R. L. Stine)

  • Streaks of citrus-y, shiny green goo suspend hunks of deep red strawberry bark. If you hear strange gurgling noises coming from your pint… run for your life!

Geronimo Stilton & The Frosted Frozen Feast (Geronimo Stilton by Elisabetta Dami)

  • Salted caramel is paired with parmesan-steeped cream, made rich with mascarpone cheesecake and crumbles of buttery cracker crust for the most marve-mousely magnificent ice cream.

Smile: Words & Pictures (Smile by Raina Telgemeier)

  • Pencil-inspired yellow and pink almond-infused sponge cake and stracciatella “pencil shavings” are strewn about a notebook paper-esque canvas, in this case, trusty vanilla ice cream. Draw your spoons and scoop your own flavor story!

Amulet: Fruit of the Gadoba Tree (Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi)

  • Otherworldly flavors of cacao nibs are steeped in sweet cream, featuring dollops of the Salt & Straw kitchen’s real-life concoction of the mysterious, juicy “Gadoba” fruit.

Twins: Pear w/ Twinnamon Swirl (Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright)

  • Pairing up a dynamic combination of two decidedly unique flavors, whips of housemade cinnamon-laced cream cheese meets sweet and fragrant pear ice cream.

Your own sweet story

Despite COVID-19 disrupting their cherished Student Inventors series, Salt & Straw is offering a twist by giving all Rad Readers a chance to create their own flavor with the Fiction to Flavor Contest. Students are encouraged to share their own short story and book cover design.

One lucky entrant will be selected to work with Tyler Malek to bring their flavor to life. Two runner-ups will receive prizes of ice cream and gift cards to bookshop.org.

Entry forms can be found and submitted HERE.

“Thank you, Teachers” Scoop

To celebrate all the ways teachers have innovated and adapted to the challenging circumstances this year, Salt & Straw will give teachers a free scoop of ice cream at all shops from Saturday, May 29th – Monday, May 31st. To receive the complimentary single scoop in a cup or sugar cone, teachers must show a current school ID at time of order.

“Teachers have all gone above and beyond this year and we know it’s been a hard one. We wanted to help them out by encouraging kids to read this summer and to thank them with some ice cream on the house. They are our heroes! Remember when we were all banging pots and pans at sunset for healthcare workers? Let’s all do that on the last day of school for our teachers! Unfortunately, their hard work coming out of the pandemic isn’t over…it’s just beginning.” – Kim Malek, CEO & Co-Founder.

See you there….and stay healthy, San Diego!

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