During the Pizza and Movie night held at my son's school last Friday, they also had their yearly School Book Fair on at the same time. It runs for a whole week and finishes this Wednesday. I am volunteering tommorrow and Wednesday which should be fun.
It was our first time to this book fair and we were so overwhelmed with the different books on display for sale. Thinking the the prices were reasonable LOL my son picked 7 books which to my surprise cost over $60. I was talking with one of the parents and she was laughing saying .."Oh I remember the first time I attended a book fair, I let my child pick whatever he wanted and when we got to the register, $50 later, her wallet was empty. The following year she told him no hardback books and only paperbacks. That cut the cost down a lot. Then the next year she limited it to just two books." I wished she had told me that BEFORE I went to the register LOL
Anyways one of the books he did choose will be donated to his class library. All the proceeds from the book fair will go to his school library :)
[question posted by maddysmommy]
responses and comments:
Oh my goodness. I love books and so does my son. I'll have to remember this when he goes to school. My husband would be upset if I spent that much on books. [sweetgirl_k1]
I was lucky my husband was there with us and when the lady told me how much the books cost, I looked at him and he nodded that it was ok - so phew, my son loves books and for my husband to see him look, flick through the books and decide on which ones to buy, he wanted to buy them for him. If he wasn't there, it would of been a different story for sure. [maddysmommy]
I used to love the book fairs my schools did when I was in grade school. I used to go and grab anything and everything that caught my attention, and I guess I'm pretty lucky that my mom never chose to limit the number of books that I bought when we went! They do get pretty expensive, though! When I have kids, I think I'm definitely going to have to shop around at the used book sales before looking at full-priced sales. You can definitely get more for your money when you buy things there. I used to come home with boxes and boxes of books we picked up at the VNSA book sales that are held annually at the Arizona state fair grounds, and only spend maybe $20 on the whole lot. :) [Inazumi]
I never attended any such book fair in my days and I wish our school had them. I was never interested in books until at a later stage when I worked at the National Library of New Zealand. I try to go to as many book fairs and festivals as I can as some times I can get very good bargains for minimal cost :) [maddysmommy]
Our book fair is usually combined with the Meet The Teacher barbecue but that evening had to be postponed (and has happened) but the book fair didn't go along with it. We were greatly disappointed. The books are pretty cheap but they can add up. I don't know whether you go through Scholastic but I do find the book orders that the kids bring home have the cheapest prices on them anywhere! But let's not stop our kids from wanting to read books! [patgalca]
Absolutely that's why my husband and I let him choose the books he wanted to buy. It was a few and costly but worth it in the end. We have been reading them every night ever since and it was the two hardback books that cost a lot more than the paperbacks. It was worth supporting the school and my son's little library of book she has at home :0) [maddysmommy]
My son's school book fair is this week. It ends on Parent Teacher Conference night. I know what you mean about the hardcover books. They are outrageous. My son will have to stick to paperback. He already has over 100 books, so he will be limited anyway. [lilybug]
My son has a lot of books too and always wants more! English was not his first language so he is learning a lot from me reading to him. Parent-Teacher conference is coming up for us too soon, I hope he has been doing well at school. He is really enjoying it! [maddysmommy]
I just love the way you are able to get involved with what is going on with your son at school. This is the type of mother that I want to be. I believe that this is the way a mother should be. Pizza and movie night? I like it, but I have never heard of that at a public school, so he must attend a private school. I seem to remember the books at the book fair being cheaper than in the stores, but it has been a very long time, so I could be wrong. One of the things that I liked in elementary was the book mobile. I believe it came around every two weeks. It was a mobile home that would park in the school and we would go a few at a time to check out books to read. That was really a lot of fun. You should have said, out of all seven of the books, pick the two you like the best. But then, if you said he could have as much as he wanted, I guess that would not work. Thank God, he only wanted seven. [Rozie37]
Maddy goes to Public School. They have so much parent involvement and the PTA really gets into fundraising events which is great. You know we didn't even give him a number and just let him run with it and pick the books he wanted. I just had not realised that the hard cover books were that expensive. Had I know I would of told him to change them LOL but by the time we were at the counter, I couldn't say no and return them haha! I know next time though! :) [maddysmommy]
Ah thats pretty cool Maddyma. Great to see more support towards book fairs. I remember at least one book fair that had the donate to library stipulation. I of course picked a science book! [theprogamer]
oh it's great that you donate to the library. well we don't have book fair in my country. though i am familiar with it. we don't usually do that in our country. [naturalst]
sounds like fun...i like book fair my daughter, she'll be turning two next month loves books, at this very moment, she is sitting in her chair and as if like an adult reading her pop up books... i hope she grows up liking books, that will make her smart... the first time i let my kid choose the book of her liking, she pick 3 pop up books,.. and shes just two... imagine, when she's like your son,... maybe i should start saving now for her books...lol... [sharonercastillo]
how cute! might be a good idea to start saving up for it, mind you being our first one we just went with the flow. It will be different next time thats for sure LOL [maddysmommy]
I hate book fairs for this reason. The school my kids goes to pressures the kids to buy books and they are not cheap. And to top it off, our school has 2 book fairs a year. I am a book person, so my kids get books for Christmas and for other holidays, so to have to feel obligated to buy books 2 other times a year is just too much (and I am talking money $$$). [msaunderson]
Yup I can understand that. It was our first book school fair that we had been too and now I know what to expect. I know we won't be buying anymore for a long while. [maddysmommy]
I used to love the book fair when I was in school! The money Mama gave me never seemed to be enough. Ha ha. My friend's son had one at his school last week and he was all excited about it. He had a big list of stuff he wanted, but unfortunately, my friend didn't have the money except for one or two. They can be expensive, but a love of reading can be well worth the money. I hope your son enjoyed the book fair. I'm sorry my responses have been late. I started a new job a few weeks ago and I've been really busy when I get home. I'm catching up though! [Flight84]
It's coming along pretty well. I'm working at a new preschool. You're one of the people I always try to make sure I get to respond to.:) [Flight84]