Christine:

That is exactly what I am talking about. At some point, whoever was running the fair at your school should have put together some notes "101 style" for you. Thinking about the next person in line is (to me) a very noble gesture. Too many people don't seem to care who comes next in line. But that is true in so many other aspects in a PTO/whatever...BTW.... you do not just get $100 in books each year... Scholastic is working on an "accross the board" system of ... I hate to say it as "perks", but I am at a loss for words on that one. Each region has had different scenarios as to what they got from Scholastic. So the $100 in books a school in one area of the country is offered may not be offered in another area.

I, too, was a new President when I took over the book fairs at our schools (that's school s! ). I learned by myself and wanted to not only have fairs but have successful fairs. Myself, being a little OCD(obbsessive compulsive disorder ) did it. Try to get to a workshop that is offered in your area. Typically, they are usually in the fall and another one in the spring. You can pick their brains there.! Good luck

P.S. Ditto on your comment to Regina! Shame on you! (I have been mulling over a reply to that post, but I want to be kind....so I did not reply )

I just finished running my first Scholastic book fair and am still trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. In the past it was run by our librarian but when she retired there weren't funds to hire a new one. After a year with no librarian, the school decided they could squeeze out enough money for a part-time librarian who turned out to be our retired librarian! The school wouldn't pay her extra to run the book fair so PTO (I'm the new Pres.) decided to "help". As it turned out I was left to do the entire thing by myself. I did have volunteers most days but the organization and promotion was all up to me.

Scholastic put out a really nice booklet but I didn't have the time to read through it. The books were delivered (the librarian arranged for delivery) and the book fair was on me before I could get my thoughts together. Regardless, we did better than the year before so everyone was pleased. I'm still confused. The librarian keeps coming up with things that apparently I was supposed to know about like, "Did you pick out $100 worth of books before sending them back?" I have called our rep but it is hard to get calls back.

I think the idea of keeping the "junk" boxed until after school hours is an excelent idea. Most of that stuff wasn't being sold to kids that didn't have money for books it was being bought by kids with plenty of money for books especially when they bought the $3.99 feather pens!

Scholastic did send us quite a few $1.00 close out books that we were very pleased with. Where we had a problem was getting them to send affordable Spanish books. One third of our students are Spanish speaking and they are also most of the low-income students. The $14 Madonna book in Spanish didn't even come close to selling.

I am not unhappy with Scholastic, I just wish I had a more informative sales rep. I wouldn't mind hearing from other Book Fair companies though and will check out Usborne.

And Regina - shame on you for comparing books to toys like Barbie and GI Joe. The purpose of the Book Fair is to get kids excited and interested in books, something that is extremely important for their development. The Book Fair is also a fundraiser for our school library so it makes more books available to the children who aren't fortunate enough to own their own. Books are not just frivilous entertainment.

Backhoed...Those are good points. We have had only the best experience with Scholastic Book fairs & we run 2 of them a year. Our PTO runs them but the chair was someone who did it for years. When she turned over the reigns she co chaired it with the new incoming chair so as to really make her knowledgeable. Our rep also came to the school and spoke with us prior to the book fair.

Some of it may have to do with the reps some folks have. I was quite suprised to hear all these complaints and horror stories as this is not something we have ever experienced.

As far as the toys and trinkets go, we put out some pens and a few odds and ends, but most of that stuff never gets put out on our tables. Since you set it up you are in charge of what you put out to sell.

Scholastic was so good to us this year as they gave us $200 worth of books to raffle off at Back to School night. We made an additional $500 just from raffling off these books.

A general question to all out there? Regarding chairpersons or the people that are running the book fair... how often is the change over in that area? Are your chairs being given an opportunity to learn from the previous chairperson's experiences? Do they attend a workshop prior to their fair every year? Maybe there is a problem in that department as well..... not knowing what to do in order to run a good fair - just a thought.

In some schools, the media center (we do not have one.. it is still called a library)is responsible for the running of the book fair (a paid employee) and in other cases, it is a PTO/PTA/HSA,etc... volunteer running the fairs.In the case of a media specialist, the media specialist probably runs the fair year after year and is pretty seasoned. In any case, to run a good bookfair, it takes good organization, good communication, good training, and the desire to make it good.

[ 11-29-2004, 08:57 AM: Message edited by: backhoed ]

So...I've seen lots of conversations around the topics of Book Fairs. We continue to use Scholastic each year, but our working relationship seems to get more difficult with each fair...either the timing, or the delivery, etc. IS THERE ANY OTHER "GAME" IN TOWN? DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY OTHER COMPANY THAT WILL DO A BOOK FAIR?

Note: I am an Independent Educational Rep for Usborne Books and Educational Development Corp.

Have any of you folks tried Usborne Books *Reading is a Gift* for your book fairs? Usborne Books Book Fairs - Reading is a Gift

You get a LOCAL Usborne Rep who helps you with the book fair. Some do all the set up, sales, break down. Others work along side the volunteers.

Often there is an option of running an online e-Fair at the same time. Bookraisers get you 25% in additional free books for sales of $250-499 and 50% for sales of $500+ for the school. As a fundraiser the school gets 10-30% based on sales. Alternatively you can choose books and cash. This is clearly spelled out prior to the start of the book fair.

The books range in cost from $2.50 - $39.95. They come in paperback, hardback and library bindings. There is a large selection of non-fiction as well as some fiction. The ages are pre-school to high school (I think they particularly excel in the 5-10 years age range).

Usborne book fairs DO NOT sell doo-dads, trinkets, bobbles, and whatjamacallits! There are Learning games, CD-ROMS, and internet linked books (family friendly, child safe websites).

Usborne book fairs can be run for as many or as few days as you like. They can be run in conjunction with a read-a-thon program that returns at least 100% of the pledges back to the students and school in the form of books and/or cash. This read-a-thon program was piloted in schools with majority to 100% free lunch programs. Its so awesome to get kids reading and excited about reading and rewarded with MORE books to keep reading!!

You can contact Usborne for your local Independent Educational Rep or contact me and I will help you connect with someone local to you. Usborne Books - EDC

Respectfully -
Monique

[ 11-27-2004, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: Rockne ]