HIT: Book fairs(Long)

[M Hunt <mchunt@AUG.MINDSPRING.COM>]

Thanks to all of those who sent in responses.  Does seem that Scholastic is
the most popular even delivers in such exotic places as Guam and Australia!
Troll came in second.  Book fairs don=92t seem to popular with the middle
school and high school crowd.  Some how I lost the last=20
2 pages of this post messing with the find/replace part of Word.  My
apologies to those whose great ideas got trashed.  I already deleted them
from my emailL

Our school=92s personal favorite is Scholastic, although we occasionally do
Troll when I get buried under all the nonbarcoded freebies from Scholastic.
Our kids love their Books on Tour and the costumes Clifford and Curious
George who they almost mugged in the hall last year.  Imagine being charged
by 400+ PreK-2!  Those costumes are almost impossible to see out of and take
a tall person to wear.  The kids do love them though.  We do drawings and
contests.  Announcing daily winners on the intercom really stirs the kids
up.  We also try to schedule the bookfair during open house or teacher
conference days.  We invite the parents personally and keep long hours.
Our kids love to come to the bookfair!  One last note: both Scholastic and
Troll have a lot of bargain books so even the kids with a few cents can buy
a book. =20
Margaret Hunt=20
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We had good luck with Walden Books last year. We made about 40% and got to
choose our own selections. We had to move all the boxes ourselves and  there
were no display racks or even a printout of available titles, but both
parents and children loved the books and we had terrific sales- especially
Goosebumps! Jennifer Lyons
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I do two book fairs each spring and fall--one at my elementary building and
one at the middle school.  We have used Scholastic at the elementary and
Troll at the middle school.  My preference would be scholastic=97especially
now that they will do a "Buy one--get one Free" anytime during the year with
no stipulations.  We prefer that type of fair at the MS level and in
the past Scholastic would not do that type when we wanted to do it.  I
really appreciate the video they send out with the publicity info.  The kids
really enjoy it and are introduced to some authors they might not get to see
otherwise
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Our favorite book fair is Scholastic..I think it has better quality  books
and ones the staff and kids like best.=20
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I would hold the bookfair at a time when another event is happening in  the
building and parents are coming for that special event ie. parent
conferences, open house, parent orientation, a concert, etc. Also try and be
open a few evenings. I usually keep the fair for two weeks.
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Our end of school book sale (we have one in October and again inJune), is a
Scholastic Book Sale. Everything is Buy one get one free. The PTA runs it,
and I don't think the June one is meant to make a profit.
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Scholastic is my favorite book fair. Promotional ideas (theirs) which have
worked well are:  posting teacher "wish lists" and drawings for coupons
redeemable for book
fair merchandise.   One thing they have done in the past but were not able
to last
school year was to send a box or two of discount books for me to price for
five or ten cents so that nearly all children could afford at least one
book--they were great books, too, not
shabby or boring. =20
Hope this helps,
Julia (PK-6th grade library/media)
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I've used both Scholastic and Troll.  They are basically the same except
that Scholastic had better hardcovers for me to choose from (they had
Officer Buckle and Gloria last year).
Marjorie Schor
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Scholastic!   They'll give you materials to use for promotion.  Can't beat=
 'em.
Kathy O'Neal
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I don't have any particularly insightful ideas for book fair promotion
(other than the usual ones the companies suggest--posters, letters home to
parents, student contests, coupons, ballooons, etc.), but I do have a
favorite company.

Scholastic is #1 on my list. I've worked with SBF and Troll as well, and
they're also great, but the book selection at Scholastic is the best.  Their
customer assistance people are wonderful and they offer some extra  (free)
benefits like "booktalkers" who will come to your school the week before,
not to advertise but just to promote reading. You can customize your fair
with state titles, multicultural titles, and (my favorite) bargain books,
from 25 cents up.=20

As I said, Troll is also very "user-friendly," but I'm not quite as
satisfied with their book selection.

Julie Swartzentruber
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I like Scholastic best and my customers seem to also.  Promotion ideas:
Borrow the Clifford the Big Red Dog suit from Scholastic and have someone
tall wear it and visit classrooms carrying a book fair sign.   Have a daily
trivia question and give away a book from the fair as a prize each day. Let
teachers fill out wish lists and display them so parents can buy books for
their children's teachers.
Judy Smith                                 =20
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We are a 4A high school with app. 1600 students.  We hold book fairs in the
fall and spring and use Southwest Books.  About a month befor the fair, our
sales rep comes out and we select titles and genres for the fair.  The day
befor the fair  he and and associate come out to help us=20
set up our Fiction section to look like Barnes and Noble.  Teachers are
invited to bring entire classes (scheduled0 or send a few students at a
time.  We have had great success.  Many told us a HS book fair would not
work.  Just say that to our students and faculty who had a great time at the
fair, purchased some wonderful books, and enjoy the *technology* we=20
have purchased with the profits.
Ruth
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at h.s. I sell candy at our RIF (sort of like bk fair).  It helps pay for
RIF.  I won't work at an elem school, but could work when/if you have=
 parents.
Anitra Gordon
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I use Scholastic and have for a long time - best quality of titles and book
construction (paper, bindings, etc.) The company lets me give $5 credit to
teachers who make recommendations
from the flyer and the parents refer to the list - they buy better books.  I
also use small book racks to display the best books on top of the cases.  I
have at least one and sometimes two open nights for parents - usually from
about 6:00 to 7:30.  I am having a book fair right now and so far in 4 days
have sold $3200 worth of books - on Back-to-School night I sold $1600!
We will get a 30% profit. Hope this helps.
Jane Snibbe, Librarian
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Hi!  Great topic!  We have done our book fairs 5 different ways and had a
great experience each time.  I love the chance to know what the kids are
buying and to spend so much time around new books.  My very favorite, which
we are using this year for the 2nd time, is Scholastic.  I really
appreciated their customer service, selection, and ease of use.=20
Kathy Collins
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Scholastic--they are great to work with in our geographical area--because of
the sales representative and warehouse personnel.  We like the advanced
information, the author bios on videotape, and the quality selection of
title, including hardbacks.

We have Open House on a Sunday afternoon--always with Clifford!  Our kids
have come to expect his being there--we take lots of pictures.  Some of our
kids are developing a photo essay with him!  Also we have Ms Frizz from time
to time.

Staff register for a favorite title--there is a drawing every day.

Families register for $25.00 in books (no posters, pencils, etc.) Clifford
makes a drawing at the final open house.
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The best company that I have ever worked with is School Book Fairs, out of
Ohio.  Ohio =3D 1-800-282-3903 Other areas =3D 1-800-848-3940 They have all=
 of
the books in metal book carts.  Wheel the book carts in, you  open it up,
sell the books, when they return to pick up the books at the
end of a week, they bring you the extra copies that you need.  Great company
to work with....Good Luck
Bonnie Steinmetz
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My teachers love the Scholastic Book Fair.....We've used most of them. =20
I've always loved the School Book Fair, Inc.  Our rep. was wonderful to=20
help getting books to those students who could not afford to buy anything.
I always promote my fair with a theme.  I've used circus, bears, Clifford,
Mrs. Frizzle.  We have different contests.  One year I let the students=20
name a bear...and then he became our library mascot.  I gave away prizes=20
to the best names....books, of course.  I use a lot of parent volunteers=20
and we just have a fun filled week.  One year I gave prizes to the=20
teacher that bought the most!!!=20
Cathy Lattus, Media Specialist
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As to bookfairs, I use Scholastic.  Have done School Books Fairs (under a=20
new name now) and Troll.  SBF was not good.  Some of their books were=20
under the Willowisp publisher and not always with correct information in=20
them.  Troll is all right, but Scholastic has terrific service here in=20
Maine and some new ideas for middle schoolers and getting them interested=20
in bookfairs.  Plus Scholastic sends a video in advance of the fair to=20
show to the students.  The videos have all been well done and the kids=20
have enjoyed them.  The video has a section for K-2, and 3-5.

By the way is USC, U South Carolina?

Cathy Moore
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I detest Troll--not enough good quality picture books, etc.  Too much
published by Troll.  Kids and teachers not that excited by it.  Trumpet was
wonderful when they had book fairs, but they aren't doing it any more.
Trumpet/Rainbow was so-so, and they are now turning into Pages' Book Fairs
out of Fla.  I have booked with them, but am not thrilled by the book list.
Not enough recent fiction to my mind.

Would love to find some book fair jobbers who would ship out here.

Cheryl King, Librarian

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I like Troll Book Fairs. We have a great reps right in Syracuse, NY where my
school is located..  They have half size metal cases that they easily
brought up three flights of stairs!!!!   (Some companies won't take books
upstairs unless they do a box fair...) So, they are good about that.. ALso,
they have several incentives...buy a book, get one free for kids, or my
favorite..sell $1,000 plus and get %30 cash back...

Troll gives great incentives for booking too!!  Keep in touch..bev
Bev Rovelli

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There are more preferences on bookfairs listed on the archives.  I
prefer scholastic for fourth grade and above and Troll for below fourth
grade. I like Troll because their payout is the best. Last year I used 3
national companies and one local.  First hand experience is the best way of
deciding which one to choose.  Some select as their favorite the last one I
would choose.  You can get them to include and delete specific items.  I
don't sell posters and such!  Robert King
Margaret Hunt                                        Floyd  Graham Elementary
mchunt@mindspring.com                               Hephzibah, GA(15 mi. S
of Augusta)
School : grahamel@aug.mindspring.com   The home of 400+ PreK-2 Panthers