Random House's Grinch campaign encourages children to do selfless deeds over the holidays
One of the most famous lines in Dr. Seuss鈥檚 classic holiday picture book 鈥淗ow the Grinch Stole Christmas!鈥� is the description of how the grumpy Grinch鈥檚 heart grows 鈥渢hree sizes鈥� when he learns to truly appreciate the selfless values of the holidays.听
So Random House Children鈥檚 Books took that line as inspiration for their new campaign titled 鈥淕row Your Heart 3 Sizes.鈥� Beginning Dec. 1, the publisher is encouraging children to make thoughtful gestures as part of the holiday season during its 鈥�25 Days of Grinch-mas.鈥� If a child fills out a card listing three good acts he or she completed and sends the card to the publisher, Random House will donate a new book to the area where the child lives. Bookstores across the country will be creating events based on the campaign and its message. Kids can get the card at participating retailers.
鈥淎midst all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we wanted to reinforce the message that Christmas is not all about giving gifts, but about doing things from the heart, and creating a sense of family and community, which sometimes gets lost,鈥� executive director of Random House Children鈥檚 Books marketing Kerri Benvenuto told . 鈥淲e thought this holiday season was the perfect time to launch this campaign, given all the community efforts we saw in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, when people really came together.鈥�
North Carolina-based Shelley Hobson owns the toy shop Learning Express, which has a sizable book section. She has hosted three Grinch events already and told Publishers Weekly she was very impressed with the response from customers. Hobson and her team created three Grinch events over two days, two at her store鈥檚 two locations and one at her local children鈥檚 museum in Wilmington.
鈥淲e had big crowds at each [store] event, and as many as several hundred at the museum,鈥� Hobson said. 鈥淭he staff all wore 鈥業 Grew My Heart 3 Sizes鈥� buttons, we read 鈥�How the Grinch Stole听颁丑谤颈蝉迟尘补蝉!鈥�听twice, families had their pictures taken with the Grinch, and we had a young actress dressed up as Cindy-Lou Who, who did a great job warming the kids up. The cool thing is that the Grinch is multigenerational now, and we had lots of parents and grandparents who are fans. It was a great way to kick off the holidays.鈥�
To see if your local bookstore is participating, check out the Grinch-mas .
