Thanks to a collaboration between the Scholastic Corporation and Salt & Straw Ice Cream, this summer will be more delicious than ever thanks to two of our very favorite things: ice cream and reading! Salt & Straw today unveiled five limited time flavors, each of which is based on a classic Scholastic book – including flavors based on graphic novels from the Scholastic Graphix imprint!
The Rad Readers menu
Beginning today, Friday, May 28th, 2021, and through July 1st, 2021, Salt & Straw’s Rad Readers menu will be available in the company’s brick and mortar stores as well as for online order nationwide.
Tyler Malek, who co-founded Salt & Straw with cousin Kim Malek, worked closely with the creators behind the Scholastic books to formulate flavors inspired by the books.
Delicious Book-Based Flavors
Raina Telgemeier, The Beat’s pick for the Comics Industry Person of the Decade in 2020, is having her 2010 graphic novel Smile honored thanks to a flavor called “Words & Pictures.” She noted that the flavor was uniquely “comics”:
We threw around many ideas for flavors based on braces and anxiety (running themes in my work), but at the end of the day, what I’m most passionate about is the magic of comics: how words and pictures combine to tell stories neither one can do alone. Words & Pictures is a true collaboration between me and a team of ice cream wizards!
Plus, a flavor based on the excellent graphic novel Twins by Shannon Wright and Varian Johnson is also available: “A Matching Pear w/ Twinnamon Swirl.” Is it too obvious to order a double scoop? I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway!
Plus, the Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi gets a flavor called “Fruit of the Gadoba Tree,” featuring the titular and mysterious fruit!
And the flavors based on prose books sound amazing, as well. R.L. Stine’s seminal Goosebumps series gets a gooey, fruity flavor called “Monster Blood is Back” (PROTIP: do not give this flavor to your pet, Cuddles the Hamster), while the Geronimo Stilton series by Elisabetta Dami will be commemorated with “The Frosted Forzen Feast,” promising a “marve-mousely magnificent” ice cream.
Available through Salt & Straw
If you’d like to learn all the details about the five Scholastic Salt & Straw flavors, including allergen information, you can do so beneath this article.
Is there a Salt & Straw brick and mortar store near you, and if so, will you be heading out to get some ice cream to compliment your reading this summer? Which one of these irresistible flavors do you hope to sample first? Is there any chance we’ll get an Animorphs flavor next summer? Let The Beat know what you think, either here in the comments or over on social media @comicsbeat!
Goosebumps: Monster Blood is Back! (Author: R.L. Stine)
We consider ourselves pretty fearless kitchen explorers. For this flavor, we pulled all sorts of ingredients from our pantry, a little of this, some of that. Laying it all out on the table, we noticed something peculiar. Amongst our ingredients, we found a mysterious blue can. “What could be in there?” we wondered. Inside was a bright green goo, shimmering in the light. Looking at it, we decided to go where no chef has gone before. No joke. Streaks of citrusy, shiny green goo suspend hunks of deep red strawberry bark. Each bite will hit you with a surprising POP as it explodes in your mouth. Warning: If you hear strange gurgling noises coming from your pint… RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!
Contains Milk, Soy
Geronimo Stilton & The Frosted Frozen Feast (Author: Elisabetta Dami)
Dear ole’ Gerrykins…I mean, Geronimo. Sit back and take it cheesy while we treat you to the most marve- mousely magnificent ice cream you could ever imagine. Salted caramel takes on an even saltier side when paired with parmesan-steeped cream, made rich with mascarpone cheesecake and crumbles of buttery cracker crust for one fabumouse flavor. For the love of cheese, this one is so GOUDA, even your neighborhood cat will love it!
Contains Milk, Wheat, Soy
Smile: Words & Pictures (Author: Raina Telgemeier)
Ever wondered what your very own graphic novel would look like… or even taste like? Inspired by the sketch table of Raina Telgemeier, author of intensely relatable graphic novels Smile and Guts, we gathered everything to craft your own story—paper, pencil, and eraser—before reimagining them into ice cream. Yellow and pink almond-infused sponge cake and stracciatella “pencil shavings” are strewn about our favorite sketchpad, trusty vanilla ice cream. For all of our budding illustrator and storyteller friends out there, we say, ‘Draw your spoons and scoop your own flavor story!’
Contains Milk, Wheat, Eggs, Tree Nuts (almonds)
Amulet: Fruit of the Gadoba Tree (Author: Kazu Kibuishi) Perched high upon a perilous mountaintop reside the last of the Gadoba trees. The fruit of this tree is powerful: one in every 100 can save your life, while the other 99 will take it away. We plucked some ourselves for its magical elixir. Ever shrouded in mystery, this flavor’s quest begins with capturing the otherworldly flavors of cacao nibs by steeping them in sweet cream, then culminates with dollops of our kitchen’s real-life concoction of the mysterious, juicy “Gadoba” fruit. Contains Milk, Tree Nuts (Lychees)
Twins: Pear w/ Twinnamon Swirl (Author: Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright)
Twins means best friends forever, right? Just how the inseparable bond between twins Maureen and Francine Carter is tested when they enter middle school, we paired up a dynamic combination of two decidedly unique flavors, interweaving the nuances of individuality and sisterly love. In our own tale of the twins, we weave whips of our housemade cinnamon-laced cream cheese throughout a sweet and fragrant pear ice cream.
Contains Milk
