My First Scholastic Book Fair

Although I have been an elementary school librarian for six years,  two weeks ago I held my first ever Scholastic Book Fair.   I’d always wanted to do a book fair, but didn’t think I could quite guarantee it would be a success.  We are bursting at the seams in terms of available space in our school, so I had no idea where I would set up a huge book fair with the big silver cases.  One of my co-workers informed me that Scholastic offered what was called a “Box Book Fair”, which is essentially the same as a regular book fair, but just on a smaller scale.  That sounded do-able, so I decided to give it a chance and I am so glad that I did.

Setting up the fair was a breeze.  One of my sweet co-workers (shout-out to “Mrs. A”!) who encouraged me along the way and I had this boxed book fair set up in no time.  I kept the decorations really simple and the theme was “Book Fair Fiesta”, so I purchased some lime green plastic tablecloths and a piñata from Dollar General.  I was nervous because we had a goal of $500 we wanted to meet, but within two days, I am happy to report we reached our goal and then some!

The kids were SO excited.  This was the first time any of them had seen a book fair and their enthusiasm was so encouraging!  They are already asking me when we are doing it again!  I told them we would definitely plan to have one in the fall when school starts back.  The teachers enjoyed it as well.

I’m not going to sugar coat it, though.  It was hectic and Lord knows I hate dealing with money.  I learned some things I will try differently next time for sure.  But overall, getting my students excited about reading is what brings me the most joy out of my job and this definitely helped me do just that.  Thank you, Scholastic!