Frazier, 11, sometimes wears sweatshirts over dresses and high-top tennis shoes to school, much like the outfits of her favorite storybook character Longstocking.

On Friday, she and about 300 other students at Zebulon Elementary School slipped into the garb of those favorites and celebrated reading by parading along the school’s roundabout in front of scores of classmates, seated in streams by the curb. “I enjoyed the princesses — all the little kids,” said Kristen Whitley, 11. “To see them all dressed up told about books.” There were two- and three-year-old princesses from nearby Tammy’s Day Care. There were SpongeBob SquarePants, Amelia Bedelia, Dr. Seuss’ Thing One and Thing Two, a baseball player, Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” even a 17-month-old frog — just about anything the imagination could turn loose.

Ten-year-olds Savannah Dupree and Cassidy Fuller came up with Thing One and Thing Two that tore the house up while parents were away in the Cat in the Hat.

“It was one of my favorite books,” said Dupree. “I liked the movie and it was different. We wanted to be different and we thought nobody else would pick that.”

Delaney Wilson, 7, chose to mimic a character from the book “Alice the Fairy.” “I like that (author) David Shannon made the girl have a good imagination and that she was a fairy,” she said. “She was kind of funny.”

Even the teachers got in the spirit.

ESL teacher Mirtha Edwards donned a vintage hat from data manager Trudy Watkins’ grandmother and became the wacky and much loved Amelia Bedelia.

“It was fun,” she said.

“I think it helps them think about characters and stories they’ve read — even the little kids,’ said Denise Loucks, the media specialist who dressed up as the Cat in the Hat. “And then they get excited about dressing up.”

The parade is a tradition at the school on Proctor Street.

This is about the 20th year the characters have hit the pavement, all for the love of books.

Contact Denise Sherman at 269-6101 or dsherman@nando.com.