It’s the end of August, which means that it’s time to go back to school. Naturally, most kids don’t want summer to end, and are not looking forward to going back. Perhaps if you remind them of the Scholastic Book Fair, they’ll be more excited.
At school, more so in younger grades, teachers will hand out Scholastic Book Orders. As fun as they are to look through, the book description barely tells you anything. Regardless, kids will beg their parents to order something. But when you have very little to go on, the product you receive isn’t always what you expected. Enter the book fair. About once or twice a year, the Scholastic company will hold a 3-day “book fair”. Besides having the newest books, they also sell assortments of posters, bookmarks, and interesting erasers, pencils, and other school supplies. By holding the fair at school, kids can read the whole description of a book, and even a couple of chapters to see if they like it. By doing this, they’re making the “informed decision” that teachers talk about. Coming from personal experience, I can tell you that I’ve spent many a dollar on books from the fair, and I always find it easier to decide on a book when I’m physically holding it in my hands.
As with everything, there are some problems with the fair, but nothing that can’t be solved.
- Kids have to bring the money to school themselves, which means that there’s a possibility of it being lost. Putting it in your child’s briefcase will send it directly to their teacher, where you can write a note explaining what you’d like them to do with it.
- Once at the fair, younger kids may be tempted to spend the money on things like light-up pens and chocolate-bar shaped highlighters instead of books. This can be solved by incorporating Open House Night into one of the fair days. That way parents can have a say in what their child buys.
- Some families may not be able to afford a book for their child. But, at every fair there’s a draw. The winner of the draw gets to pick out $25 worth of stuff from the fair. The winner’s teacher also gets $25 worth to get books for the classroom. If you don’t win, the school will also buy books for the library, so you can borrow one of the books for free.
In the end, whether or not you like to read, the book fair has something for everyone, be it a cat poster, a graphic novel, or a stationary kit. Also, the school gets to keep a portion of the money they make! Close to half of the proceeds from the fair help fund field trips, special programs, and new classroom resources. With over 55 million books being sold each year in 9 different countries, it looks like book fairs will be around for years to come.
Holy Public Relations job Batman! Sounds like you should send D holistic an email, with a link to this post, so they can see how much of a fan of Book Fairs you really are. Bravo! You captured the fun of such events but, also, the benefit to students and the school, too. Well done.
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Perhaps I will!
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Always loved Book Fair week and getting some Christmas shopping done. Rita
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Scholastic….
Not holistic, or whatever else I wrote.
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Your post conjured up many happy memories. When we left England, I was 9 years old and we were only allowed to bring three books with us. My parents used to love the Scholastic book order because it allowed them to buy books for .75 cents a piece (this was in 1967). When I had kids of my own, one of our favourite things to do was take Grandad over to the Scholastic book fair. It would be guaranteed that he would buy at least one book for each family member, including himself! Leah! I love your writing. I was telling your Mom today how much I am enjoying your blog. Thanks for another beautifully guided walk down memory lane. ❤
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Even adjusted for inflation, those books are still cheap today! The prices in the catalogs nowadays certainly have increased, though.
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Great Blog! I like your idea of incorporating “Open House” evening into one of the Fair nights. It’s true that without supervision, many children will spend their money on those silly erasers or pens. And honestly, how many cat posters does someone really need!? Your post does make the start of school next week sound exciting!!
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Thanks! I agree, one cat poster is more than enough!
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You are doing an AMAZING job LEAH!! Talk about PR…you nailed it.
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Thanks!
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Congrats on your blog Leah. Well done. I have enjoyed reading it.
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Thanks!
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