At Peruvian Park Elementary, families recently didn’t just walk into their school, they stepped into a magical storyland.

Welcomed by Dumbledore and Merlin, students led their parents through hallway displays cloaked in imagination featuring 1,600 student art projects and into engaging hands-on literacy activities.

Kindergartner Emmy Roner, anxious to start, said she was there because reading is “really fun.”

That’s exactly the point, said Sara Carter, PTA vice president over community, who organized the literacy and arts night.

“We want kids to feel like every time they open a book, a little magic falls out,” she said.

Held each spring, the event has become an anticipated school tradition for more than a decade.  Once inspired by the Harry Potter series, it was recently reimagined to reach every reader, shifting from a competition with few winners to encouraging all 550 students to participate.

Each grade now explores its own fantasy series tailored to reading levels, from “The Magical Treehouse” and “The Land of Stories” to “Fablehaven” and Percy Jackson series.

The result, Carter said, builds excitement all year.

“I hear the students in the halls wondering what we’re going to do this year,” she said. “They come because they want to be a part of it.”

Fourth-grade teacher Heather McEntire said the impact goes beyond one night.

“This brings so much joy and energy to literacy,” she said. “It’s not just ‘count your minutes.’ There’s magic behind it that makes kids want to read.”

The excitement carries on into the 21-day readathon. Students track their reading minutes through independent reading, being read to and audiobooks.

Carter said students logged 420,000 minutes under the first year of the revamped program. Last year, they surpassed that number with 534,000 minutes. With a goal of 500,000, students will be rewarded with a school escape room.

“There is a unity in this competition,” she said. “We’re also hoping it builds a habit, so they continue to love reading after March.”

McEntire said her students feel as if “they’re being transported to a new world” and teachers like “many of the books challenge students to read as it pushes them a little bit and maybe they wouldn’t have pushed themselves as much if they didn't read it for literacy night.”

There’s even time in class to “drop everything and read,” sometimes with pajamas, pillows and snacks provided by the PTA, said Laura Miller, PTA president-elect.

“Every bit of this is magical,” she said. “They love the magic of the book they read together and the fun the night brings that goes along with it; it brings excitement.”

During the kick-off event, families searched for hidden clues, leading to a small reward — a whimsical gnome in a jar — further reinforcing the magical worlds students have been reading about. Along the way, students show their parents their art, inspired by the book their grade-level read — and to do activities together.

Parent Tara Roner, who enjoyed seeing her fourth-grade daughter, Juno, in a sneak preview of the school’s musical, “The Lion King”, appreciated the literacy and arts activities.

“It's fun and we do all of them,” she said. “They like coming home with a little trinket that reminds them of the year’s theme.”

That may be the real story behind Peruvian Park’s literacy and arts night. In a world of screens, it reminds families books bring people together.

“Books are adventures to be shared,” Carter said. “And students are learning reading is the beginning of an adventure for the rest of their lives.”