Lupita Elias, looking more like a plant than a second-grader in her sunflower costume, led Thursday’s annual Books on Parade extravaganza at Sunflower School.

The grand marshal gave out high-fives to hundreds of fellow students lining the parade route. And she let it be known her favorite book was “Arthur Meets the President.”

“Arthur is neat,” she said.

At the back of a line winding through the school’s gym and cafeteria was sixth-grader Bobby Davis, dressed in white and riding in a red wagon to portray the smelly character in “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.”

“It’s a funny book,” Davis said. “And I like the pictures.”

For the third year running, each class at the elementary school on Inverness Drive selected a book and created a colorful float to illustrate a portion of the book’s story. They assembled for a 15-minute parade in the school for about 300 students, teachers and parents.

“It makes learning fun,” said Jill Smith, Sunflower’s principal.

“We want to encourage reading,” said Margie Coggins, a library media specialist at Sunflower. “Kids get excited and talk about books.”

Their parade books included “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Esperanza Rising,” “A Year Down Yonder,” “Riding Freedom,” “The BFG” and “Rosie’s Walk.”

No Harry Potter? Not this time, but it’s a situation that second-grader Benjamin James thinks could be remedied in next year’s parade. His favorite book is “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.”

“It has magic in it,” James said.

Ally Koppes, a fifth-grader at Sunflower, said her personal favorite was “Riding Freedom.” It’s the story of a girl who disguised herself as a boy to escape from a grim New Hampshire orphanage.

“And she rides horses,” Koppes said.

Sixth-grader Courtney Kueser said her favorite wasn’t on anybody else’s list. It’s Tom Clancy’s first published book, the tale of a Soviet naval crew’s attempt to defect.

¢ 6News video: Lawrence students put books on parade

“I love ‘The Hunt for Red October,'” Kueser said. “The story is interesting. You get hooked on it.”

The parade coincided with American Education Week and National Book Week.