Well, folks, I have a long week ahead of me, but it is very much worth it! Our fall Scholastic Book Fair begins this morning at 8:30 AM. The fair will be open from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM Monday through Thursday, and from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM on Friday. Veteran book fair attendees will notice that I have shortened the evening hours by one; because I am at school at 6:15 every morning for Morning Adventures, I felt I shouldn't press my luck and stay open until 8:00 each evening! I hope these times are convenient for parents. If not, please let me know!
I am pleased with the content of this year's fair. There are many, many great titles that I think the kids will be very excited about. I think the parents will be pleased with the reduction on "non-book" items. The selection, to me, seems like the best we have ever had. I hope you all agree.
One of my goals for money raised at this fair is to purchase sets of books to use with book clubs. For example, in January, I would like to start a fifth grade book club reading either Rules by Cynthia Lord or Schooled by Gordon Korman. I would like to have multiple copies of these titles available so the kids will not have to buy the books to participate. Currently, our fourth grade book club is reading Cherokee Sister, by Debbie Dadey.
A student asked me Friday as we were setting up the fair whether I liked having book fairs. I told her I liked having the fairs, and I liked it when it was over! The real answer is a little more complex. I enjoy having the fairs, because I get to see lots of parents that otherwise I might not come in contact with. I think it is essential to my job to have a strong rapport with parents, teachers and students, and the book fair is an avenue to reach out to a group I might not see.
What I really like about the book fair is that it is essential to funding so many of the other things we do in the library. For example, last year's fairs paid our renewal for Accelerated Reader. Proceeds of the fairs have expanded our collection well beyond what our annual allotment from Monongalia County Schools can provide. With these proceeds I am able to target materials that I think will be interesting to the kids, not necessarily the most literary or curriculum-oriented. With these funds I have also enhanced what Mon County has provided in library software: Brookhaven is the only school in the county that has reading program (Accelerated Reader) points for each book listed in the catalog; we are also the only school in the county that has TitlePeek, an Amazon-like feature that displays the covers of books in our collection.
I hope you all enjoy the fair!
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