Working at four school libraries that serve students kindergarten through 6th grade, I’ve become very familiar with the Scholastic Book Fair. Scholastic sends you books, you sell ’em, and you keep a portion of the profits. I work with wonderful media assistants who help turn these sales into something pretty cool – an event that gets kids excited about reading. The following are some tips to consider if you’re new to the game.
1. Sell what you want to sell.
Book fairs come with plenty of things that are definitely not books. Software, games, pencils with all manner of fluffy and/or furry tops – there’s a lot of stuff to sort through. If you don’t like the idea of selling those items, stick to your guns. At our fairs we try to strike a balance by focusing on the books and only putting out a small portion of the non-book items.
2. Have events where parents and kids can come together.
This is a big one. The proceeds of our fairs support the media center. We use the money to buy new books and make improvements to our libraries. While I definitely don’t prescribe to the attitude that we gotta maximize profits, I’m also willing to realize that parents want to buy books for their kids. It’s a positive thing. So in order for that to happen, it’s best to:
A: Hold your fair at night during parent/teacher conferences so that parents can come in with their children, or
B: Schedule an event when parents can come in during the school day, or
C: Both
We went the “C” route. The book fair was held during conferences, but we also scheduled a lunch for parents to come eat with their kids and visit the fair. Good feelings all around.
3. Mascots help.
The media assistant who I work with at my K-2 building had the idea to get some costumes for the event, and it was genius. It was like we had celebrities in the house. We had a Wild Thing, a Clifford, and a Curious George. They got mobbed all day long. You can borrow the costumes for free from the Scholastic warehouse (if you live by one), but you can also order them up by from Costume Specialists, Inc. They have a big selection of children’s book characters, both old school (Cat in the Hat), and new (Geronimo Stilton).
The rental is free, but you’ve got to pay a pretty substantial shipping fee (which is listed on the site). In my opinion, however, it’s worth it.
Are you a book fair vet? Share your tips in the comments.
100 Scope Notes 
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April 11, 2009 at 11:44 pm
phantommidge
Hey, I didn’t know you had horns ;-)
Seriously, though, I still remember the giddy excitement of being in the first grade and going to the book fair in the school library. I even remember what book I bought: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. (I guess some of us are just meant to be librarians). Oops, that also shows my age, since that was a NEW book back then!
April 12, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Scope Notes
Ha, I remember the books I got from my school book fair too – Hardy Boys. I had a serious Hardy Boys phase. Well, since we both remember the books we got at our fairs, it must mean that they’re a pretty big deal in the life of kids, which is very cool. By the way, nice first book fair purchase. Also, It really takes all I’ve got to keep those horns hidden.
April 12, 2009 at 8:31 am
Lynn Rutan
Great tips – I LOVE the idea of costumes for elementary fairs! I’m a veteran of countless bookfairs – mostly at the middle school level. I recommend recruiting volunteers if you can to take care of the purchases. This frees you to roam around the fair, talk to kids and teachers about the books, steer them to books they’d enjoy and keep shelves stocked. The volunteers always end up being great customers too ;-) I agree completely about choosing what you sell. We only put out a small portion of the non-book items.
April 12, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Scope Notes
Lynn, good point about enlisting some good volunteers – that does make a huge difference. A book fair must. Thanks for your thoughts!
April 13, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Emily
I loved the annual book fair in elementary school. They hyped it for weeks leading up, including an annual book fair poster contest among the kids, with the winning posters hung in the hallway outside the library. (I won honorable mention one year! hey, it was a big deal for a non-artisty kid like myself.) Each class had its designated period to go, and our parents would send us to school that day with special book money burning a hole in our pockets. As I recall, there were always a lot of parent volunteers there to sell, keep the tables stocked, etc, and I think parents were allowed to come after school or on the last day to buy. They also alllowed kids to pick out books and have them held til their parents showed up with money if they didn’t have enough, which I think was a smart move on both the making more profit and preventing tears fronts.
April 13, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Scope Notes
Yes, the poster contest – always a good method for generating interest – good tip! I also wholeheartedly agree with you on volunteers. If you can get some to help out, you’re in good shape. If 90 of success is just showing up, the same is true for book fairs – just switch the “just showing up” part with “getting some good volunteers” (or something like that).
April 16, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Kimberly @ lectitans
Thanks for this excellent post! I posted about it at my blog here:
http://lectitans.livejournal.com/74311.html