did some more research on books are fun. our rep actually sets up the fair similar to scholastic. only they come in and do the set up and break down at the end. they have posters and flyers as well. they will also be adding more chapter books for the upper grades soon. my only thing about scholastic is that we are on our 7th!!!! rep in the past year. it has become very frustrating and we have been trapped several times with what we were told not being what actually has occurred once the bookfair was over. thus the look for a change of vendor. anyway we are going to do a books are fun fair in the fall, so i'll let you know how it works out.
lisa [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have no idea where you are but try Usborne Books at Home. I am a representative who is lurking here to be quite honest. We have book fairs and Reach for the Stars, a pledge based reading incentive program. The books are outstanding and if you go to Ubah.com you can search for a representative in your area. I am lurking here because I really want to understand the needs and concerns of PTO's. I truly believe we have the best books, service and marketing program out there and want to know how what we do can help you do what you do better! Thanks for letting me listen in!

Warmly,
Joanne Uzarski
Educational Consultant and Supervisor
Usborne Books at Home
Ubah.com/d1095
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Tracide:
On the subject of book fairs.. does anyone know a company that does them besides Scholastic?

I love Scholastic right down to my toes, but we had some problems with our first book fair in the fall, and the board would like to look at other options. They are even considering buying books ourselves and building it from scratch. ICK!!!<hr></blockquote>

Books Are Fun is one of my favorite vendors.

Keep in mind that when you place your order you do not get your item at that time. Children like to buy and take the book at that time. If you run a book fair using them, you need to make some kind of deal where they have enough books to cover the week, will be able to bring you more books the next morning if you run out of a title, that they are willing to leave so many books that they will have to inventory at the end of the fair, etc. If you can strike up such a deal - go for it!

On the other hand...

They do offer great deals, and I am always there to take advantage of them, but I'm not sure that they can do what Scholastic does on such a large basis. Even if you had a problem or two with Scholastic, I would think that it could be fixed by talking to the rep that comes. It is an enormous amount of work that you are looking at by changing. If you don't mind doing so much work, why not use the Scholastic discount flyers that come and order the books your self? There are lots of deals to be had that way! Any books that are left over can be used at the next book fair or be given to classrooms or library as a PTO donation.

Figure out what sold well during the last book fair and order accordingly.

Good Luck!

turtle was bought by scholastic. we also use scholastic but i am currently checking into a company "books are fun". the reps have come to our school and have mini book fairs for our teachers and the prices are excellent and the books are good quality. they have a website with the same name. another company that does bookfairs on the east coast is jaberwocky. they are a bookstore and provide book fairs for schools in their area. they also have a website of the same name.

I think right now Scholastic is about the only one out there. Turtle used to but they don't anymore and they were not as good of quality. Our rep from Scholastics is GREAT, and I think that makes a big difference.
The wish list for teachers is something that they always have encouraged the schools to do. We have the teachers make a list of 10 books each. At the end of the sale any of the books for the teachers that were not purchased by parents will be purchased from our proceeds. Whether it be for the library or the classroom I feel it benefits the kids. Scholastic gives you $ for using the wish list, $ for hanging the promotional posters in the school, $ for using the visa/mc machine, and more. To try and get more attendance during our family night, I always take the $ amount that we will make from these promotions and each family that attends the family night gets to enter into a drawing for a gift certificate that the winning student can use during their classes trip to the bookfair that week. It seems to work. If we take advantage of all of them I usually split it into two certificates so that two students can win. I then make up a cute little gift certificate on the computer and put the winning student(s) name on it. They love that sort of stuff.
One other thought that I had considered, instead of Scholastic, was to approach one of the local book stores and see if they would be interested in consigning books to us for the fair. The profit percentage would be worked out ahead of time. It would be a win/win situation for all. They would sell books and we would make money, without any loss, and the Librarian can then take the money and purchase books or whatever the library needs.
Just a thought!!!!!

I would also like to know who you have used for your book fair. We have used Scholastic for as long as I have had kids in school. The quality and selection has been steadily declining and we would like to explore other options.

I loved your ideas about the teachers "wish list". I also agreed with the other post about purchasing your own books. That sounds like a whole other set of problems.