Andrew Avenue Welcomes New Mascot Book

His name is Rocket, he’s the mascot of Andrew Avenue School in Naugatuck and now he has his own book.

And Andrew Avenue’s principal, Taran Gruber, made it pretty clear just how neat that is just before reading the picture book to the school’s K-4 student body on Monday.

“We’re the only school, not only in Naugatuck, but in all of Connecticut to have its own mascot book,” Gruber told the group of five-eight year-olds assembled in the gymnasium. “Is that cool or what?”

The children let out a cheer of agreement.

The book, titled “Hello, Rocket!”, follows the story of Rocket the Roadrunner, the school’s mascot, as he attends a full day at Andrew Avenue while on a field trip. Told in pictures and some text, Rocket learns, socializes and sits down at lunch with all of the students at Andrew Avenue.

The book is fitted with some images of the school, namely the exterior appearance and a view of the playground.

Gruber read the final book for the first time on Monday, to a student body that sat attentive and respectful.

School parent Jennifer Stone said she first found out about the book company, Mascot Books, when she read one of their other books to her son. She looked into it a bit, and found out it was possible to submit a written concept to the company and, for a fee, the company would produce 200 copies for the school.

The Parent Teacher Group at Andrew Avenue did a little fund raising, and was able to assemble a list of sponsors that could help make the book a realty. In total, the PTG garnered $1,500 in sponsorship donations. The total cost to have the book printed was roughly $2,600, which included $2,500 for the book and the $100 for shipping, Stone said.

The book is available for sale at the school for $15.

Here are the list of donors that sponsored the book:

Platinum Group (Donated more than $100)

Connecticut Snow Service
Naugatuck Baseball League, Inc.

Platinium (Donated $100)

Naugatuck Firefighters Local 1219
The Stone Family
The Chatfield Family
The Barth Family
Justin, Blake & Logan Stone’s Grammy and Grampy
Kathy and Bernie Piccirillo

Gold (Donated $75)

Nana & Poppy Stone
Carols, Christine, Elliott, Charlie and Sam Almeida

Silver (Donated $50)

Naugatuck High School Lady Greyhound Volleyball
Lady Greyhound’s Basketball
In Memory of Jerry and Louise Sirica
Naugatuck High School Boys’ Basketball
Witkoski Associates – Maple Street Naugatuck, CT
Realtor Barbara D’Angelo

Bronze (Donated $25)

Spark, LLC
Grandma & Grandpa Hamel
Auntie Amy Piccirillo
The Trisko Family
Pam LaCherity
The Fantastic Friends 2010-2011
Steve & Dana Sirica
The Bruno Family
Send Out Card with Jen Stone