The spinoff of “One District, One Book” in Great Bend is now known as “Great Bend Reads” but the goal is the same: get students excited about reading. Roughly 1,300 books of “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” will be handed out Friday, Nov. 2 with the program starting next week.

Jefferson Elementary School Principal Kip Wilson is organizing the program this year, but has a committee of teachers from each grade school helping.

Kip Wilson Audio

Great Bend Reads aims to get family members or guardians involved by having them read to their children at home. All the Great Bend grade schools will have activities, games, and trivia during the school day to keep the students involved with the reading.

Wilson says there is some thought that goes into selecting the book each year to make sure all ages are entertained.

Kip Wilson Audio

The 2006 novel of the life of a china rabbit won the 2006 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in the fiction category.