Martha Bongiorno, library media specialist at Richmond Hill (GA) Elementary School, has signed up for a Follett Book Fair for the spring. Tony Hopkins, senior vice president of new business development and the Follett Book Fairs, says that schools should expect to see some school supplies and journals in the mix-but not toys. “The feedback from customers and publishers was overwhelmingly positive.” Like Scholastic, Follett will also be focusing on the K–8 space. Baker & Taylor’s distribution centers provided “a good opportunity to test this out,” he says. The company’s acquisition of the distributor Baker & Taylor last year facilitated Follett’s venture into the book fair game, says Qaimari. “For the full launch, everyone is eligible as we scale to new regions.” “For the pilots, we were selective based on region and size of school,” says Nader Qaimari, president of Follett School Solutions, which oversees the fairs. More are planned for 2018-including one at Leland Middle School in the spring. The company held 150 pilot book fairs across the country this year, including in Michigan and Georgia. Meanwhile, the educational distributor Follett is developing and rolling out its own new book fairs for schools. “For book fair organizers who prefer not to include the non-book items, we offer a books-only fair option.” Follett enters the market “While every fair is stocked with award-winning, popular books that kids want to read, many schools also request non-book items-novelty pens and pencils, stationery kits, journals for their budding authors and journalists-in a concerted effort to make the event less intimidating for developing readers so everyone who attends can feel excited about being there,” Boyko says. That may “.have made it seem as if we’d increased ,” Boyko said via email. But this year, Scholastic sent new merchandise to middle school book fairs that were related to some favorite titles for that age group. Scholastic has actually decreased its non-book offerings overall, according to Boyko. However, schools can opt out of these selections, he says. Scholastic Book Fairs president Alan Boyko acknowledges that merchandise accompanies the books. But recently, librarians say, the focus has shifted with fewer titles sent to schools and more merchandise. Kids come in with spending money and bring home books of their choosing. Now in their 35th year, Scholastic Book Fairs are well known to schools and students around the country. Teachers have a hard time taking time out of class for the book fair if it’s not about actual books and reading.” “I could not believe they sent a case of fidget spinners to a school. “They sent blankets, pillows, coffee mugs, drinking bottles, book bags, and fidget spinners,” she says. Although Scholastic instructs schools to put everything out, Gale chose not to. It included fewer titles and more “swag and junk,” she says. Gale wasn’t happy when the Scholastic book set-up arrived this year, however. So this is only opportunity to visit a book store and purchase one.” “The Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million are in Wilmington, about 10 miles away. “We do not have a book store in Leland,” notes Gale. The fair is important to the school, where Gale is a media specialist: It yields needed funds for her library-and it’s the only chance some students have to buy books in person, she says. A recent book fair at the Leland Middle School in North Carolina.Īllison Gale spent seven days running a Scholastic Book Fair for Leland (NC) Middle School this fall.
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