What Is a Book Fair?
It's an awesome opportunity to buy books — and support your child's school too.
Connect kids with books at a Book Fair.
Every year in 75,000 schools across the country, Scholastic Book Fairs staffers work with parents, teachers, librarians, media specialists, and principals to connect kids to high-quality books with school-based sales (about 115,000 a year!). There are plenty of reasons why schools participate in this exciting reading event. Why, and how, should you get involved?
While fundraising is a definite benefit to holding a Book Fair (your child's school receives a percentage of all Fair sales, which it can take in cash or spend on books or other supplies), so is uniting kids with literature, and bringing the community together in honor of that mission. Fairs also provide you with the opportunity to engage in reading with your kids and tune in to their passions. Every summer, the Fairs team determines the next year's offerings, carefully predicting which books will be most popular with kids of all ages in the coming months. Their top goal: Select books that kids will be interested in and eager to read.
Along with hundreds of book choices, Book Fairs offers cool contests to get kids reading and thinking creatively. Kids Are Authors encourages students to work in groups and use reading, writing, and artistic skills to create their own books. The winning books are then published by Scholastic and distributed at Book Fairs nationwide. Through the Deep Ink contest, kids come up with sticker phrases to be published and distributed at fairs.
The Fair chairperson at each school (typically a librarian or PTA member) receives step-by-step instructions on setting up a successful fair. Fair committees can also get lots of help (in the form of themes, decorations, and giveaways) from Scholastic and its Fairs team.
Not ready for that level of commitment? Sign up to assist the chairperson by contributing baked goods or helping to staff the fair. Or just attend the fair when it opens. Along with your own purchases, pick up a few items from your child's teacher's wish list — she'll draw one up to let you know which fair products would be perfect for her classroom. No matter your level of involvement, you'll be helping to connect kids and books. There's no better way to raise a reader.
