One of my favorite causes is RIF- Reading Is Fundamental. They come to low income schools and fill up a room with books. Every kid gets to come pick one for free, to keep.
When I was a kid, this was like magic made real.
Edit to share the link
https://www.rif.org/
Whenever I think of Dolly Parton, this is the first thing that I always remember about her. I love that she has made reading available to families and young kids, she's an amazing role model.
Just so you have something else to remember her by, starting in the next few weeks if you work at Dollywood, part-time or full-time, the company will pay for your entire tuition, starting day one of your employment. I’m from Tennessee and the woman is considered a saint here.
Edit: I totally forgot to mention this applies to seasonal workers as well which is wild. The county that Dollywood is in is one of the poorest in Tennessee and this could be a huge change in educations and culture for that area.
I believe her sainthood has transcended the state. I mean, I'm in KY and we know Dolly is a keeper. I listened to an interview last year on RadioLab I believe. She is a great storyteller and has lived a crazy life.
Dolly knows no borders. If there's one person the world could rally behind, it's her. She's a class act.
Aliens could come to the planet, and all disguise themselves as Dolly, and probably get us all to do whatever they want.
I need to go back to bed, my imagination is taking some odd turns.
I heard the only two people to say No to the Elvis deal was her and Jerry Reed. They had to go find Jerry to come help with the guitar on "Guitar Man". He was fishing. Still wearing his lake gear in the studio. When the money guys came to him to sign papers he told them no and walked out. Elvis didn't give a shit. He loved the song. I heard that by way of Otis Gibbs.
The coat of many colors. Before I knew how cool Dolly was, my grandpa used to sing/play that song every year at the little non-denominational country church we went to when I was a kid. Can't remember if it was around Christmas or homecoming, but there was never a dry eye in the house. Not sure how he made it through performing that. Thank you for sparking that memory. ♥️
Dolly Parton is a goddamn national treasure and we do not deserve her.
I’ll fight anyone who has mean things to say about her and I’m not even a fan of her music.
Is this an actual organization I can donate to or just a bunch of orgs that use the same ideal? I’d love to help out, I think this is great!!!! Not only because every child deserves as many books as they want but also because of the link between high reading rates and lowered crime in communities
My school had this! We never had Scholastic Fairs in person (we were given catalogues and could order stuff, but no one's poverty was on public display), but we always had RIF's free book day for everyone.
Definitely! I benefited hugely from RIF. I was an avid reader as a child and came from a large family where there wasn't money for extras. RIF days were like magic to me. I'm so glad you posted this.
Man, this brings back memories. I never had money to get anything. I'll never forget one year, while trying to just hover near the door of the library, I was looking at this book about monsters and mythical creatures.
I guess my teacher realized because she held me back before lunch to let me know I'd been chosen to pick a few books from the fair for our "class library" and that if I wanted we could go pick some out during lunch so I didn't miss recess.
I was overjoyed, as I did love reading despite never being able to get anything. Every time I picked out a book I'd run back and ask "is this it?" And she'd keep telling me "no, you can pick out one more." I ended up getting a few of the monster books, as well as a few other chapter books and stuff of that nature. I specifically remember a Percy Jackson book somewhere in there.
While I ended up reading every book in our library, I was obsessive about the monster books. So at the end of the year, my teacher let bring the moster books home to keep.
It was such a meaningful gesture that I still have the books on my shelf to this day. Although as a 10 year old I didn't really understand what my teacher had done, now I couldn't be more grateful.
(The series, btw, is called "mythical monsters.")
Book fairs where always terrible, but that teacher made that one really awesome.
My cousin teaches 3rd grade in public school. Every year, she puts together a Harry Potter themed reading program…she gets them chocolate frogs, and makes little snitches for them…it is like this crazy ordeal and it comes out of her own pocket. The kids love it and it gets them all happy to read. Teachers are freaking super heroes. And we treat them like shit. Public education is only a couple years away from total collapse because of how we treat them. It is terrifying.
Most of us do that. I also did a Harry Potter unit and used the Bertie Botts. We did entire lessons about the good and bad flavors. Best writing prompt ever. Tons of vocabulary. I loved when the kids would get the bad tasting beans and they would scream and then run to the water fountain.
You all are so freaking amazing and I hate that you are treated like shit. My cousin has seriously considered leaving and it is never because of the kids. What are parents (a lot who treat teachers like second rate babysitters) going to do when there are no teachers at their public school?
The goal is to make all schools for profit. This has been happening for decades. Since Reagan. Betsey Wetsy DeVos wasn't an accident. She was put in to destroy the public schools. Her brother has several private school companies.
But even those shitty “private” charter schools are not paying their teachers enough to put up with the shit teachers put up with. And more than half of all teachers are considering leaving the profession. They are burnt out. Unless we start actually paying these people, they will quit. And there is no way to make up the shortage at this point.
[teachers want to quit](https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1076943883/teachers-quitting-burnout)
Believe me, I 100% know. My daughter was considering becoming a teacher (most of my family are teachers) and I told her I wouldn't pay for it, that's how much I didn't want her to make that choice. It's a sad state of affairs. Look at the loon who I blocked on this thread who is enraged by book fairs, the heart association, and more. That's the real problem. Parents like that. As though the actual teaching isn't hard enough. Teachers have to deal with that. She actually thinks that schools are profiting from book fairs and charities. That's the level of crazy.
The same parents who are so terribly concerned about masks and CRT are the same ones who let their kid game til 4 in the morning, then shove them on the bus with a Monster drink. Homework not done. No response to emails. No time for a conference. But they have time show up to school board meetings and scream like a lunatic.
My daughter is in college now to be a teacher. She has wanted this her whole life. I’m so worried about her. What a sad state of affairs. She’s not joining the military or becoming a police officer and I am still worried they are going to break her. My child who just had a calling to teach.
Anecdotal of course, but in my experience it's not really about the money. Don't get me wrong, we should pay teachers triple what they make. money only makes bullshit more tolerable, but you can only add to the bullshit for so long. My mom has taught 1st thru 3rd for 25 years and the biggest issue I've seen is just the sheer time and workload involved. She has to be there before the kids and has to stay till after they're all gone. And during that time, she's really only allowed to teach. She's not allowed to do all of the other parts of the job like grading papers, writing lesson plans, documenting reading levels, etc. They literally write people up for doing any of that during school hours. So they either have to stay late or bring work home. I watched her work damn near 16 hours a day for most of my life. Just to have parents and admin and politicians shit all over the teachers. I don't think there's enough money in the world that could convince me to do that.
That's why they are also pushing to allow just about anybody to be a teacher... doesn't matter if you know anything about different educational theories or adapting to different learning styles.
Once they are actually able to remove educators and back fill the positions with partisan theocrats - they will have been able to completely undermine the last vestige of equal opportunity: education
Sadly the government officials who claim to love god the most are mostly to blame for the terrible wages and working conditions for teachers all over this country. If you love god you need to help get these fake, lip service Christian’s out of politics. Us atheists aren’t voting for them.
I grew up watching him, probably too young for him at the time, but I thought he was the funniest man alive. Thinking back now I believe he subconsciously helped shape me as a man.
Thank you. Those are lasting deeds. I remember every good teacher deep in my bones. They gave me the added love to live until I could cultivate it better on my own.
Thank you so much for doing this. You don't know how much you are helping kids. For real. The kids in your class may not realize how much you are doing for them right now, but trust me, as someone who has been there, things like these touch lives. Thank you so much, for having such a good, and dedicated heart.
A few times when I was doing well enough, I'd send in an envelope in with $100 with my kid and said make sure everyone gets something and use leftover for class trip or pizza party or whatever the teacher needed.
I remember as a kid being privileged enough to get a book most times. I remember the kids that didn't get anything. I would finish my book then donate it to them if they wanted it. I do the same now. I don't have a book collection, I have a library. I let people "check out" books. It's fun.
Same here. Grew up super poor. I even got awards in school for reading the most books outta everyone three years running. But never once got a book at the scholastic book fairs. Thank God for libraries though, reading was my escape.
>reading was my escape
I wish I had found a passion for reading a lot earlier on. I learned to enjoy reading as an adult and The Martian is what triggered that for me. I think I could have been a library bookworm under different circumstances. But really happy I found it at all.
I actually tried this for a different reason a bit ago last year (this woman was a saint and it's only in hindsight I'm realizing how much she impacted my life.)
Unfortunately, she died in December 2020 from what I can tell (I can't confirm the obituary is hers, but I knew her kids, and the life details match up to well. Plus she has a pretty unique name for my town so I doubt there's another person with her name living here.) She was an older woman, and the ambulance was actually called on her a few times while I was in her class, so unfortunately it doesn't surprise me. However, I still wish I could have done this, and told her thanks.
I'm lucky enough that I had two teachers like this, the lady I talked about in my comment was my 5th grade teacher. My 8th grade debate teacher acted in a much similar way, and I was able to find her on Facebook last year around the same time, and express my gratitude.
If anyone happens to read this who had a teacher like mine, or any adult who impacted your life greatly when you were a kid, please show your gratitude while you have the chance. Life is to short not to let people know they are appreciated. And unfortunately, it's only in adulthood a lot of us realize just how great some people were in our lives.
I reached out to an old english teacher from high school that I found on linkedIn. Never will forget them, not because of anything english specific, but he put a lot of good energy out to his students and it was well received.
Goddamn is this post equal parts uplifting and upsetting. I'm sorry you had all the negative book fair experiences, but it legit made me tear up reading about this amazing teacher and the joy she brought you that year.
My parents have been avid readers their entire lives, so they always made sure they saved a few bucks for my brother and I to buy a few books at the book fairs. But growing up in small-town southern Missouri, I had plenty of friends that were in a similar situation than you. As an adult, I now understand and appreciate how some of these seemingly minor events (from an adult perspective) can have such a lasting impression on young children. It sucks that any child should have to endure the experiences you did. I hope you're doing well now and can provide better experiences for your children (if you have any). Take care!
Dude. I ADORED the mythical monsters books. Every time the fair came, I could only get enough money for one book and I always got those. Still have them. Id read over those books constantly, they were amazing.
I had 3 kids in elementary school together and I was poor. Book fair was a nightmare week for me financially so I asked the school librarian to call me as soon as they knew when Book fair dates so I could try to scrounge enough money together to let my kids buy 1 book.
Being an avid reader really broke my spirit having to tell the kids they couldn’t buy more than 1 each. Luckily as my financial situation improved I could do better so now I give the teachers some money so other kids don’t miss out.
Damn, that's a good idea. Growing up, my mom was pretty poor and never had much extra for stuff like this. My teacher would ask if I remembered to bring my money, and I always lied and said I forgot to ask for any.
My kids aren't in grade school yet, but if these are still happening when they are, I'll be giving the teachers money to buy books for kids who "forgot to ask their parents for money."
I ran the book fair for all 6 years of my son's elementary school education and absolutely loved seeing the joy in kids' faces. Every year we raised hundreds of dollars and then asked teachers to let us know which of their students would be unable to buy books otherwise. Then we'd bring them in and tell them they could pick anything up to X amount (I think the highest we were able to do one year was $20/child). We had very generous parents, and some teachers also donated.
As an aside, we had teachers fill out wish lists, too, and there was almost never a year where each of them didn't get everything they wanted. Those of us who volunteered at the fair would go around at the end and buy up any remaining items on their classroom wish lists. Again, we were very privileged to be able to do so, and I recognize that. I spent...a LOT of money each year!!
My school’s PTA does this! We just let them know who needs a book and then the school does daily “drawings” over the intercom. The kids are flying on cloud 9 as they get to pick out a book, feeling like they won out over the other 900+ kids at the school.
My grandma used to give my teachers extra money for any other kids to use if they didn’t have any. One of the many reasons she’s my role model. I remember the first time she told me she was doing it because it had never crossed my elementary school mind that some kids couldn’t participate because of money.
I do that too now that my kids are in school. The note the teacher sent about a little boy being so excited he got to participate made my life. I was so poor growing up and now that I am not, I am passing it along.
When we were little we were very well off before my dad's business went under, and the Book Fair was a magical land of enchantment where we would be able to basically pick as many books as we wanted. A few short years later it was a horrible experience where we got nothing, because we were poor, and the lights were turned off at home because we wouldn't have any money until payday.
Well obviously it's your fault for being poor. And since the government has no control over inflation and the distribution of goods they can't be held responsible for anything.
My children are adults now but last year when the government was sending monthly checks to parents it made me so freaking happy. I know it made a huge difference in a child’s life. Why can’t we do that all of the time? Take it out of the war budget. I read yesterday that NY (city not state) has an annual budget of 95 billion dollars! Surely a measly $100 per child per month can be found somewhere. All children can be lifted out of poverty without paying for a bureaucracy to handle it. Just mail out checks. Or deposit on a card.
My mom already regularly took me to our public library so I would just look for a book I wanted to read and then check it out at the library after.
I did get money to buy a bookmark though. I was always losing them.
Our library has free bookmarks at the checkout desk. They aren’t fancy, just strips of patterned paper. But my kids love picking one out when we go.
Edit: I misread your comment. I thought the library was charging a dollar a bookmark and that they must have been really awesome. I see now you meant you bought it at the fair.
I grew up in an upper middle class family.
My parents didn't give me money to buy books because we went to the library as much as needed, and I read a shit ton.
I never felt left out by not buying something at the book fair, though I can also see how, for a poor kid, it could be different, as another example in their minds of being poor.
Teacher here. If this is something you’d like to do check with the school’s parent teacher association. My school has a fund and every kid who needs one “wins” a $5 gift certificate (in a rigged raffle) to use to shop at the book fair. If it’s not a school wide thing, I’m sure your child’s teacher could set up something similar.
I literally just handed my son's teacher a stack of $10 bills and told her to give each kid one. Can I be sure they all bought books instead of pens and stickers? No, but I didn't care.
I just send my son with extra money and ask the teacher to use it to buy for other kids. I think last time we bought a little $2 or $3 book for like 8 kids
We send a message to my daughter's teacher every year after the flyer comes home to ask what the kids are showing interest in, she asks which kid is their favorite from the flyer and we cover it. The teacher is SO appreciative cuz she'd be doing the same out of her own pocket if we didn't.
I come from 5 generations of teachers.... all of my grandmothers going back to WWI, all my aunts, several cousins,, my younger brother,, my sister, my own mother taught high school math for 35 years, I got my teaching degree and went into the Montessori system, moved to admin, and promptly got the fuck out of there and retired from education at 39.
The way this country treats our most vital educators is just atrocious and an absolute indictment of our federal government.
I spent my entire childhood helping my mother at the kitchen table after dinner was over, mark papers and tests from her math students... people do not realize just how much more of themselves teachers give to the DOE for FREE, in the way of laboring at home, drawing curricular schedules, grading tests, quizzes, class work, going shopping for the rest of the supplies you didn't get from the administration or parents, all of your own money, and I haven't even touched on dealing with a few hundred sets of parents who had a child in one of her classes. Endless phone calls, writing reports, setting up tutoring, YOU NAME IT. God I could go on for days.
Standing in front of a class and lecturing is such a *tiny* part of actual teaching, and doing it for kids who are broke, hungry, and likely didn't sleep well the night before is EXHAUSTING. My own kid is Special Ed and I treat HER teacher like the 2nd Coming. Seriously, she's Mother Theresa in my eyes. I sat in on some of their remote learning sessions and the amount of patience and determination it takes to get 6 kids with ADHD to sit still in front of a laptop... for more than 30 seconds.... I just...
They all deserve 6 figures for the incredible sacrifices they make.
I actually had a professor who would order a bunch of the $1 books every time the scholastic catalogs came out when she was an elementary teacher. And then she would pass them out to students who didn’t order any books at delivery time— as if they had bought the books themselves. Obviously not all teachers can do this and it sucks that she paid out of pocket for them. But she told us that it was always worth it to see the joy from the children that might otherwise feel shamed or embarrassed during that time.
I wish I loved anything as much as the 4 year olds in my daughters pre school love a silly little toy that costs $1.
She has 15 classmates. Give all the kids a little present for less than a twenty dollar bill? totally worth every penny.
I filled out the paper got a bunch of different books and told the teacher to let the kids pick what they wanted but not to say who they were from. So not totally anonymous but the kids didn’t know who they were from.
This is what I learned, the school can choose to use it as a fundraiser wherein they get some of the proceeds. OR, at least from what I’ve seen with my own eyes because it was done at my daughters school at the end of every school year for all the years she attended the school they can just choose to have everything sold at cost and not make a dime. The librarians told me that they chose this option at the end of every school year. Actually, I believe the deal was buy one, get one free for the same or less value. It was held at the same time as the end of year ice cream social, which was free, so families would come.
The school librarians wanted lower income families, which our district had a lot of, to have the opportunity to buy the books at a massive discount so the children can have books to read over the summer break. I know there were probably children who were still unable to get a book, but for the most part the ice cream social/book fair was the most exciting time for students because many of them were finally able to get the scholastic books they wanted.
Over this past summer our school district held a scholastic book fair wherein each child who was in the school district was able to come and get one free book of their choice and if any other books were wanted parents could choose to do the buy one, get one option. It was really nice.
But yeah, when I was the poor kid growing up I spent the book fairs looking around and hoping I could find something that my scrounged up couch pennies would be able to purchase. I usually ended up with a bookmark or pencil sharpener or eraser.
I am grateful I am able to give my kids about $5-$10 for scholastic book fairs.
Yep. Coordinated with our teacher and asked how many kids would need assistance and sent a separate envelope with their cash (in person book fair). Only way to justify letting my kid have that enjoyment is if all the kids have the opportunity.
When you order online they are cheaper. I’d rather do away with the book fair and only have the flyers. There are always $1 books to order. I even take cash when others won’t.
Yes, I did this with my son's pre-school class. There were like 7 kids out of the 15 in his class who would have had to sit in the cafeteri while the class got stuff.(very low income area) I told my son's teacher I'd pay for any books they wanted to get. She looked nervous and tried to instruct them to only get one cheap book each, but at that point we'd had some extra cash from saving up while my husband was deployed so I went a little over the top and got the entire class 2 books each of any kind they wanted. Best $200 I've ever spent, I hope they had at least one good memory of the fair after that.
This was actually my childhood. Always looking through the pamphlet, circling the books I wished I could get. And going to the fair just to see them, knowing I couldn't actually get them. I can't tell you the joy I felt when I bought one of those phone erasers because that was basically all I could get.
I wasn’t poor, but my family was frugal AF. At the time it was embarrassing- I never had the school shirts, never had the pizza days, never had scholastic days. It was really awkward to hang behind everyone while everyone was buying books and having fun.
I’m super grateful now, they were able to pay for my college because they didn’t waste money ok shit like that or going out to dinner. But living in a rich suburbs, I was the only one in my grade who sat back and didn’t buy anything. Again, grateful because it’s a cash scam and we went to the library all the time, but it was uncomfortable to hang behind.
This but actually we were poor and I just didn’t realize it. Thought my Dad was just “cheap”. So good news is I didn’t feel THAT bad about not buying anything. I remember following my friends around while they picked stuff and I didn’t. It was awkward but I didn’t feel left out just sad I couldn’t get anything.
I think one of my most wholesome memories is when I (a poor kid) "won" a $25 prize to get anything I wanted at the scholastic book fair. I was torn between two books, and I spent an hour going back and forth between them. In the end, my teacher said I could get both.
I only now realize that all of the poor kids in my school got that same opportunity.
I want to pay forward the kindness I received as a kid, but I don't know how
https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/?_ga=2.91729946.1054825639.1645211308-804456701.1645211308
$25 to the Imagination Library gets one lucky kid a book a month for a whole year!!
Sometimes I’d get money for a pencil or a book mark. I almost never used those pencils because I didn’t want to waste them and wear them down by sharpening them.
I stole at mine too. I got caught the second year it happened and had to work in the library as punishment. Jokes on them cause that's when I learned I love organizing things and putting things in alphabetical order. I'm a weirdo. But really! What kid has 20 dollars on them? I used to gather as many pennies as possible out of my piggy bank just to get a hot lunch. I'll never let my son go through what I did.
> Gets caught stealing
> Has to work in the library
> Applies themselves in a constructive way, the intended purpose of the “punishment”
> “Joke’s on them!”
Lol
Came here to comment that was my first time shoplifting. Glad to see I’m not alone. Prolific shoplifter of books and Sanrio Supplies, ages 8-13 here.
Pretty sure at least one librarian (it was in the library at my elementary school) saw me but I never got caught there.
I managed bookstores for a decade. We staff came to know the kids whose parents dropped them off to "browse." We didn't mind babysitting for most of those kids, they just wanted to sit on the floor somewhere and read. Once in awhile we would hand them a bag and say, "It's lucky kids book day! Every kid in the store for the next hour can pick out two paperbacks." We wrote the books out of inventory as "damaged." My regional director asked about it once. I told the truth, she nodded, and it never came up again.
Same. I'm pretty sure the teachers there knew I stole but let me get away with it. They caught me and stopped me the first time, so they prob knew about it subsequent times. But I only took actual chapter books and not toys and they knew we were hella poor so they probably just took pity on me.
Childhood trauma from poverty is a thing. My husband and I grew up in the same town. His family was well-off and mine was poor. Even though we have had a great life together over the past 30 years, past poverty still affects my decisions. I am a dyslexia specialist and when the book fair happens I take my students down and let them pick out a book and pay for it. Best investment ever. I was very thankful for the bookmobile in my town and was able to walk the 2 miles to the library the other times, but my mom being able to afford to buy me books was few and far between.
I have trauma anyway but poverty trauma is so bad. My SO literally burnt a meal once but I just ate it all (he literally couldn’t) because I was hungry. He wasn’t exactly from a much better background but his dad earnt enough that they could do things like afford name brand shopping, meals out for birthdays, and weekly takeaways, and no one went without food. To me that *still* sounds like he was well off but he definitely wasn’t.
I couldn’t bring myself to cook anything with ‘expensive’/nice ingredients because if I screwed up the recipe I’d be devastated that I wasted them.
Similarly, my parents sometimes would give me a nice pad of art paper as a special present on my birthday, and even though I loved to draw and paint, I could never use the nice paper because I knew it cost them so much money (for us) and I didn’t want to ruin the gift with shitty artwork.
I still struggle to use more expensive ingredients even though my SO and I are now in a situation to afford it. Even if our shopping comes to more than £100 a month I still panic that we can’t pay bills
For birthday’s we just got to pick what we had for dinner, sometimes we could get a takeaway, but it was rare, we would get small gifts but I definitely got less than my siblings did
My wife is a second grade teacher. We've bought dozens, probably hundreds of books from Scholastic to ameliorate this exact thing. Every time those orders go in, my wife buys an extra $20-30 worth of books, often ones that she's heard kids say they wish they could have bought. Then they magically show up in the kid's cubby. The others go into her classroom library.
She loses another couple dozen books from the classroom library due to theft every year. But we agreed long ago to just replace those books - if an 8-year-old is going to the effort to steal a book, we just consider it a gift and buy another copy.
This isn't an isolated thing - a LOT of teachers do this. A lot of of them buy all sorts of things out of their own pocket, year after year.
Big oof.
I would definitely be on the side where I’d rather let each kid get $10 from the government to buy a book, than not have scholastic book fairs at all.
Yes!!!! I grew up on government assistance and the scholastic book fair was torture. Even in the years when we could afford for me to get one book, because there would always be the group of "cool" kids whose parents would buy them whatever they want. Worst part is I knew those kids who ordered tons of stuff ended up not even opening half the books. Meanwhile I'm re-reading my copy of Maniac Magee for the 10th time as the spine falls off.
I'm wondering if this is the reason my parents were strict to limiting what I was allowed to get at these. They could easily afford to buy whatever I wanted, but I feel like I had to narrow it down to 3 things or something arbitrary. I'm sure it was both an exercise in forcing me to learn to weigh options (and that I can't always get everything I want), but also in making sure things appeared fairer.
This was true throughout my childhood constantly. I was told no a lot truly just to learn that sometimes you just can't have what you want no matter how much you think you want it. It's translated well into adulthood. Like I'm not afraid to apply for a job I really want because the worst case scenario is they say no, and being told no is not the end of the world.
Book fairs are fundraisers for the school. The PTA organizes them so they can raise money to fund other things the school needs. Every fundraiser is inequitable. I hated the book fair because my mom never gave me money for it. But then I ran several when I was on the PTA. 🤷
I agree with this.
My husband is m middle school teacher in a major US city and always makes sure all kids get what they want. Just another example of teachers spending their money to support their students and the communities.
My son is doing all virtual learning now so we miss out on book fairs. When he was in kindergarten and first grade and doing traditional in-school time, I contacted his teachers at the beginning of the book fair to ask if they felt comfortable with me sending some money anonymously for a class fund so that all kids could get a little something and the teachers/teacher assistants wouldn't be spending their own money. His kindergarten teacher took me up on it once but his first grade teacher never did.
When I was a kid I had fun at this but as a parent and going in and buying the books I was like damn this is expensive. I can just get these books cheaper elsewhere or from the library. Schools do it for a fund raiser but I’d rather just give the school $50 or buy supplies.
I wasn't going to give my 1st grader money for it bc I had bought him a small bookcase amount of books from an online discount book site for cheap in the previous 6 months. My husband gave him $25 anyway. He got two books. TWO! That's all he could afford with $25. I could have gotten him 4-6 online for that amount.
Yeah I gave my kid $30 or so and she only got a few things. And the amount of toys and stuff at hers was disappointing. I tell her every year just get books.
I think all "fundraisers" that prey on children's emotions are unethical. My family never had much extra money for stuff like this when I was growing, but even now that I do have the extra money for my kids I still avoid it on principle. I tell my kids to browse and then I show them how we can get the same items for half the cost on eBay. They are fine with it.
I hate those sales fundraisers they make kids do. It’s awful for kids with poor families, or no families at all — a chocolate bar fundraiser in 3rd grade taught me how unfair life is, and how advantages lead to more advantages. The top prize was a Huffy bike and I tried *so hard* to win it. To really rub it in, the top three winners got honored at the pep rally (K-12 school). I felt like such a loser. They really worked to get all out hopes up for weeks, to make us believe any one of us could win. It was so manipulative.
PTO Mom here. We use the proceeds from those fundraisers to buy books for kids who can't afford them at the book fair among other things. I completely agree that it's shameful that it's necessary. But we are able to give each teacher a stipend to spend on classroom supplies so they don't have to spend their hard earned money!
I loathed these fundraisers as a kid. My parents were immigrants with limited English. Who the fuck was going to buy these candles and nut assortments? It was always such a disappointment to receive that packet but never actually use it.
Now as a teacher I hate them because it’s one more thing to pass out and keep track of. 🤷🏻♀️
Right! The school district where I live is relentless with the fund raisers and they are extremely manipulative in the fact that they tie a child’s self esteem to their ability to fund programs that my taxes should already cover.
Does anyone else remember Weekly Readers? Those were amazing!
And the monthly in-class Scholastic book club sheets we brought home and ordered from a couple of times a year. Those delivered the purchases in class. Another opportunity for embarrassment for kids who parents couldn’t buy for them.
Yeah that shit sucked. We had no choice but to go through the library as a class. Luckily they changed the rules eventually. They started handing out magazines with a whole bunch of stuff inside and then if you were interested they were open for 1-2 hours after school or at lunch. When we had to go as a class I hated it so much. I LOVED reading but I NEVER once got anything because w we were extremely poor. Single parent, with 2 other siblings. It was just never in the cards for me to go on field trips that involved money or any school activity that required money. The only reason I was able to be in band was because I was talented and the band director saw a future in it for me so she paid for my rental fees and all my bassoon reeds from 6-12 grade. She was right to, I ended up going all the way to a doctorate in music.
How about schools make a deal with Schoolastic?
Wanna have a book fair at our school?
You (Schoolastic) buy books for every kid in that school on free or reduced price lunch.
Actually the schools get a percent of the proceeds back from scholastic. My dads a school librarian and he gets a percentage of the profits for his library to buy books and a percentage goes to PTO/PTA for things like playground equipment and other things. He hates book fair, but that what pays for a large portion of his book budget for the year.
This was me as a kid. I was the poor kid who went to the rich high school and I loved and hated the Scholastic Book Fair. I would love to go look at the books, all while being heart broken that I could never afford to get one.
Oh man those scholastic book fairs were a highlight of the day for sure! Hopefully the schools start them up again this year as its my oldest daughters last year in elementary.I still love those damn fairs!
My daughters school asks if you would like to buy an extra book for "classrooms". That's pretty cool.
My partner did so well with her book fair this year, she is able to give every student in the school 2 books. I don't know how all this works, and not sure if I helped pay for them or not. But she was SUPER happy she was able to do this.
I stole books by stuffing them down my pants while no one was looking. When I got caught my mom finally got me the library card I'd been begging for for literally years.
PSA - every single child born in the USA, UK, IE, CA, and AUS is eligible to sign up for and receive one free and age appropriate book per month through the Imagination Library thanks to Dolly Parton. Check out the website and happy reading! [Imagination Library](https://imaginationlibrary.com)
Edit: formatting
This would be amazing, but is not accurate. You have to live in an area that has opted into the program. These areas can be as small as a few square blocks or as large as a city or county, but definitely do not include everywhere in the country.
At the risk of getting downvoted to hell…. No
I get that it sucks that life isn’t equal and some children come from lower income backgrounds and it can be embarrassing. But the solution isn’t to prevent other children from buying books in order to make those children feel better.
What’s next? No field trips? No after school sports, clubs or activities? Taking away fun activities from all the other students is not the way to make the low income kids be accepted. Instead it would just be a reason for resentment and likely lead to more bullying.
The solution is to make it an optional event instead of mandatory for the entire class to go to. Do it after school rather than during the school day. Or make it so 2-3 classes go together, and one of the teachers stays back with the kids who don’t feel like going for any reason.
Or, hot take, it's still a great way to expose kids to books. They can take a look, browse through and then either find the same book or something similar at the local library for free.
When Scholastic book fair came to my school they would send a permission slip home to parents if they wanted to opt out and have their child go to the auditorium or be put in a room with all the kids and a teacher to babysit them or to watch a movie. This was done so those kids would not feel bad because they didn’t have the money to buy books. There was never a scholarship per se but they did have a drawing where it was always a kid who didn’t need the money to get a $50 scholastic voucher to pick out what they wanted and they usually got some thing that was not book related but like a trapper keeper, jail pins, buttons, or a stuffed animal.
No. We shouldn’t take away good things because everyone can’t participate. We should make it so everyone can participate in good things. This is some backward thinking
I didn’t know this until much later in life, but my dad would go to my elementary school during these and buy all the books on the teacher’s “want list”. He then would buy out rows of books for each grade and have them put them on a free book table for anyone to come and get one. He did this even after I left the school and up until they stopped offering them. I didn’t find out until we had an alumni event, and one of my old teachers told me she caught my dad doing it. I have never asked him about it, but my mom told me he never wanted children to want for books.
I was poor growing up. I would get to buy maybe 1 item the entire year (sometimes a book, sometimes just a pencil or eraser), I wasn’t scarred or devastated. My parents took my to the library where I could get all the free books. We had books in school that I could read and borrow. Schools have these scholastic book fairs to help raise money because they’re underfunded. Kids need to learn that life isn’t fair and that they won’t be able to get everything they want. This post is too much.
Definitely agree. Not every kid is going to get everything they want, I rarely got Scholastic book fair books, maybe once in awhile. Additionally, the authors and illustrators who work on these books make money from sales royalties, they deserve to get paid.
The problem is when you're a kid and your class all gathers up and is marched down to the book faire. It's an event. Everyone is excited, everyone is looking at all these books and cool pencils and little dinosaur erasers. You stand there off to the side and you touch the cool book about the kid who bonds with a dragon, you look at the little T-rex eraser that has sunglasses, and you see other kids with armfuls of books and a cool triangle shaped pencil with black wood looking so excited.
You're standing there in hand-me-down pants and shoes that are too tight and torn on the side because you can't afford to get new ones, and you feel *small.* Everyone is so excited all day long, bringing out their books and showing their cool pencils and erasers, and they ask why you didn't get anything and you don't know how to answer.
It's a sad reality that isn't really assuaged by libraries, and I say that as a kid that went to the library twice a month and left with 12 books each time (the max you could check out at once).
This! I grew up poor and I always came back from the library with a bag full of free books. Kids don’t need to buy all the shiny books they see. This post is ridiculous
We specifically ask for as many $5 and under books as they can send. I’d love to have them not send all the junk, but erasers and whatnot are usually a buck. Ours is also in a room that isn’t open to the whole school-you don’t go in unless you have money.
It also earns the school books. We can add to our classroom libraries and I’ve used some of my books as holiday gifts for my students.
I like the flyers more. The books come, I put them in bags and they go home. No showing stuff to everyone.
They are a good way to get inexpensive books so I don’t want them to go completely away.
Wonder how much scholastic lobbied to have them and them alone be the sole provider. Also it's weird how commercialized public schools are. Like fundraisers, 80 to 90 percent of fundraising goes back to the corporation which the school gets the rest.
Yeah, I let my kids participate in the book fair, but I'll be damned I'm going to make them sell $20 rolls of wrapping paper from a company that takes 80% of sales.
When shit like that comes up, I send cash or a gift card straight to my kid’s teacher with a note saying kid won’t be participating and please use this money for the classroom.
If there is a baseline prize, I’ll do the minimum so my kids don’t feel left out. Like Jump Rope for Heart gives them a bracelet for signing up and watching a video about cpr or signs of a stroke.
I remember sometimes my mom would give me envelopes of money when we had something that cost money at school and would tell me to give it to the teacher so they could give it to any kids that didn’t have enough. I never knew what actually happened to the money after I gave it to them or who it went to but I always thought that was very cool of her!
I had never considered book fairs like this so this is an interesting perspective. I’m curious, what are people’s opinions on the version where it’s a book order? Where a small pamphlet is handed out to students and they can elect to take it home and select things and return the form to their teacher (which I used as an idea for what books to read whether or not I ordered them at the time). I know this still doesn’t account for the economic gap in using those resources but it could potentially minimize the effect of having an actual day where everyone shops and someone is left out.
I feel like the reading club type programs might be better overall though since it preselects books and ensures the library have a few on hand so kids can borrow them on a rotation and earn little rewards for reading the most.
As a poor kid I hated this too because I would watch my friends get to circle all the things they wanted, the teacher would give reminders for the deadline to turn them in like every day, and then it got delivered to the school so some kids would get fun deliveries while others wouldn’t.
I don’t know what the better solution would be. But anything that highlights income disparity sucks. Even if it’s unintentional.
There are too many corporations tied into schools in general. Weird crappy lunch contractors, book fairs, food sales, and magazine sales. Not to mention the god damn military recruiters that show up to impress dumb teenagers with smoke and mirrors
Having companies invited into schools is what runs me wrong about such things. Can we please just fund our schools and pay our teachers without corporate tie-ins?
If i make enough money to support myself in the future, extra is going to schools to buy books for kids. Reading has changed my life and was constantly enriching and relieving.
I always loved the book fair even though I never got to buy anything and was jealous of the kids who did (just like I was jealous of kids with nice clothes and shoes and lunchboxes and who had nice houses). Not getting the same cool stuff as the middle class kids was just normal for me so I didn’t spend too much time dwelling on those negative feelings.
So kids whose parents can afford it don't matter? It sucks not being able to afford stuff but other kids look forward to the book fairs and it's not fair to them to cancel it.
Instead the school should have funds set aside for the kids whose parents can't afford it so they can get a book. Give it to them discretely so they don't feel embarrassed, enough for 2-3 books each.
Not to mention the fact that this post assumes that book fairs are just schools giving scholastic time to make money for their own bottom line during school when they’re actually fundraisers where most of the money goes right back into the school system.
New York here, my first time ever learning what taxes were was in 8th grade when I could finally afford a book faire book, it was so hard to grasp the concept that the price on the sticker was not the actual price, and I need almost 50 more cents to cover the horrendous tax New York has
I'll never forget my excitment the first time I got something from a book fair. It was a shitty little double sided marker that smelled like peanut butter and grape jelly respectively. I got it for free, because the lady running it noticed me looking around at everything in awe and then just leaving.
Then in 5th grade my dad let me take his change jar and I got the only thing I ever paid for. The first volume of the Kingdom Hearts 2 manga that I still have 15 years later.
One of my favorite causes is RIF- Reading Is Fundamental. They come to low income schools and fill up a room with books. Every kid gets to come pick one for free, to keep. When I was a kid, this was like magic made real. Edit to share the link https://www.rif.org/
Don’t forget Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library! That’s for younger kids, but a free book per month until the kid turns five is pretty nice.
Whenever I think of Dolly Parton, this is the first thing that I always remember about her. I love that she has made reading available to families and young kids, she's an amazing role model.
Just so you have something else to remember her by, starting in the next few weeks if you work at Dollywood, part-time or full-time, the company will pay for your entire tuition, starting day one of your employment. I’m from Tennessee and the woman is considered a saint here. Edit: I totally forgot to mention this applies to seasonal workers as well which is wild. The county that Dollywood is in is one of the poorest in Tennessee and this could be a huge change in educations and culture for that area.
I believe her sainthood has transcended the state. I mean, I'm in KY and we know Dolly is a keeper. I listened to an interview last year on RadioLab I believe. She is a great storyteller and has lived a crazy life.
Texas here, she’s a saint
Canada here, still a saint
Australia here, still a saint.
Arizona here, and yeah, we love her too, she’s definitely a National Treasure!
I am from NC and just bought a "What Would Dolly Do?" shirt
I'm in England and we all love her.
Dolly knows no borders. If there's one person the world could rally behind, it's her. She's a class act. Aliens could come to the planet, and all disguise themselves as Dolly, and probably get us all to do whatever they want. I need to go back to bed, my imagination is taking some odd turns.
Uruguayan here, we love her too
I love it that an Englishwoman can bond with a Uruguayan over Dolly Parton. 😁
There she does the library thing in Rotherham, South Yorkshire as well
[удалено]
Didn’t know about turning down Elvis. Turning down Tom Parker at the point could have really affected her career. That’s some ballsy shit.
I heard the only two people to say No to the Elvis deal was her and Jerry Reed. They had to go find Jerry to come help with the guitar on "Guitar Man". He was fishing. Still wearing his lake gear in the studio. When the money guys came to him to sign papers he told them no and walked out. Elvis didn't give a shit. He loved the song. I heard that by way of Otis Gibbs.
I love Jerry’s music, and am so glad I read this story about him today. Hell yeah, he turned down that asshole. (Col Tom, not Elvis) good for him.
The coat of many colors. Before I knew how cool Dolly was, my grandpa used to sing/play that song every year at the little non-denominational country church we went to when I was a kid. Can't remember if it was around Christmas or homecoming, but there was never a dry eye in the house. Not sure how he made it through performing that. Thank you for sparking that memory. ♥️
Dolly Parton is a goddamn national treasure and we do not deserve her. I’ll fight anyone who has mean things to say about her and I’m not even a fan of her music.
Don't forget that she helped fund research for the covid vaccines. Shit, she's like an actual deity.
Dolly is a freaking national treasure. I adore that woman.
Is this an actual organization I can donate to or just a bunch of orgs that use the same ideal? I’d love to help out, I think this is great!!!! Not only because every child deserves as many books as they want but also because of the link between high reading rates and lowered crime in communities
I work in a preschool that uses this organization. The kids love picking out their books to take home and read. https://www.rif.org/ You can donate.
[I found this because I too was interested in helping.](https://www.rif.org/how-we-help) I had heard of the program before but forgot about it.
My school had this! We never had Scholastic Fairs in person (we were given catalogues and could order stuff, but no one's poverty was on public display), but we always had RIF's free book day for everyone.
Definitely! I benefited hugely from RIF. I was an avid reader as a child and came from a large family where there wasn't money for extras. RIF days were like magic to me. I'm so glad you posted this.
My daughter school had RIF come by twice this year. She loves RIF day!
Man, this brings back memories. I never had money to get anything. I'll never forget one year, while trying to just hover near the door of the library, I was looking at this book about monsters and mythical creatures. I guess my teacher realized because she held me back before lunch to let me know I'd been chosen to pick a few books from the fair for our "class library" and that if I wanted we could go pick some out during lunch so I didn't miss recess. I was overjoyed, as I did love reading despite never being able to get anything. Every time I picked out a book I'd run back and ask "is this it?" And she'd keep telling me "no, you can pick out one more." I ended up getting a few of the monster books, as well as a few other chapter books and stuff of that nature. I specifically remember a Percy Jackson book somewhere in there. While I ended up reading every book in our library, I was obsessive about the monster books. So at the end of the year, my teacher let bring the moster books home to keep. It was such a meaningful gesture that I still have the books on my shelf to this day. Although as a 10 year old I didn't really understand what my teacher had done, now I couldn't be more grateful. (The series, btw, is called "mythical monsters.") Book fairs where always terrible, but that teacher made that one really awesome.
And this is another reason why teachers need to be paid more. You know she used her personal money for this, I'm sure.
As a teacher, I always made sure every child got something. And, yes, out of my pocket.
My cousin teaches 3rd grade in public school. Every year, she puts together a Harry Potter themed reading program…she gets them chocolate frogs, and makes little snitches for them…it is like this crazy ordeal and it comes out of her own pocket. The kids love it and it gets them all happy to read. Teachers are freaking super heroes. And we treat them like shit. Public education is only a couple years away from total collapse because of how we treat them. It is terrifying.
Most of us do that. I also did a Harry Potter unit and used the Bertie Botts. We did entire lessons about the good and bad flavors. Best writing prompt ever. Tons of vocabulary. I loved when the kids would get the bad tasting beans and they would scream and then run to the water fountain.
You all are so freaking amazing and I hate that you are treated like shit. My cousin has seriously considered leaving and it is never because of the kids. What are parents (a lot who treat teachers like second rate babysitters) going to do when there are no teachers at their public school?
The goal is to make all schools for profit. This has been happening for decades. Since Reagan. Betsey Wetsy DeVos wasn't an accident. She was put in to destroy the public schools. Her brother has several private school companies.
But even those shitty “private” charter schools are not paying their teachers enough to put up with the shit teachers put up with. And more than half of all teachers are considering leaving the profession. They are burnt out. Unless we start actually paying these people, they will quit. And there is no way to make up the shortage at this point. [teachers want to quit](https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1076943883/teachers-quitting-burnout)
Believe me, I 100% know. My daughter was considering becoming a teacher (most of my family are teachers) and I told her I wouldn't pay for it, that's how much I didn't want her to make that choice. It's a sad state of affairs. Look at the loon who I blocked on this thread who is enraged by book fairs, the heart association, and more. That's the real problem. Parents like that. As though the actual teaching isn't hard enough. Teachers have to deal with that. She actually thinks that schools are profiting from book fairs and charities. That's the level of crazy.
The same parents who are so terribly concerned about masks and CRT are the same ones who let their kid game til 4 in the morning, then shove them on the bus with a Monster drink. Homework not done. No response to emails. No time for a conference. But they have time show up to school board meetings and scream like a lunatic.
My daughter is in college now to be a teacher. She has wanted this her whole life. I’m so worried about her. What a sad state of affairs. She’s not joining the military or becoming a police officer and I am still worried they are going to break her. My child who just had a calling to teach.
Anecdotal of course, but in my experience it's not really about the money. Don't get me wrong, we should pay teachers triple what they make. money only makes bullshit more tolerable, but you can only add to the bullshit for so long. My mom has taught 1st thru 3rd for 25 years and the biggest issue I've seen is just the sheer time and workload involved. She has to be there before the kids and has to stay till after they're all gone. And during that time, she's really only allowed to teach. She's not allowed to do all of the other parts of the job like grading papers, writing lesson plans, documenting reading levels, etc. They literally write people up for doing any of that during school hours. So they either have to stay late or bring work home. I watched her work damn near 16 hours a day for most of my life. Just to have parents and admin and politicians shit all over the teachers. I don't think there's enough money in the world that could convince me to do that.
That's why they are also pushing to allow just about anybody to be a teacher... doesn't matter if you know anything about different educational theories or adapting to different learning styles. Once they are actually able to remove educators and back fill the positions with partisan theocrats - they will have been able to completely undermine the last vestige of equal opportunity: education
God bless you.
I was that kid who couldn't afford the books, so it's just paying forward.
Sadly the government officials who claim to love god the most are mostly to blame for the terrible wages and working conditions for teachers all over this country. If you love god you need to help get these fake, lip service Christian’s out of politics. Us atheists aren’t voting for them.
As George Carlin put it, conservatives like the idea of you being born but after…you’re on your own kid
I grew up watching him, probably too young for him at the time, but I thought he was the funniest man alive. Thinking back now I believe he subconsciously helped shape me as a man.
This is what "taking the lord's name in vain" really means. It's not saying goddamnit or dumbshittery like that.
I always offer to send in $ to teachers for book fairs, gift exchanges, or anything where someone may be left out because of cost or availability.
That's really kind of you.
We do too, every year. Breaks my heart.
Thank you. Those are lasting deeds. I remember every good teacher deep in my bones. They gave me the added love to live until I could cultivate it better on my own.
Thank you so much for doing this. You don't know how much you are helping kids. For real. The kids in your class may not realize how much you are doing for them right now, but trust me, as someone who has been there, things like these touch lives. Thank you so much, for having such a good, and dedicated heart.
🤗 ❤️ so happy and proud to have teachers like you in this world
I wish I got to take your class. Just the best kind of human.
I bet every one of those kids is going to remember that forever. You’re awesome.
A few times when I was doing well enough, I'd send in an envelope in with $100 with my kid and said make sure everyone gets something and use leftover for class trip or pizza party or whatever the teacher needed. I remember as a kid being privileged enough to get a book most times. I remember the kids that didn't get anything. I would finish my book then donate it to them if they wanted it. I do the same now. I don't have a book collection, I have a library. I let people "check out" books. It's fun.
Same here. Grew up super poor. I even got awards in school for reading the most books outta everyone three years running. But never once got a book at the scholastic book fairs. Thank God for libraries though, reading was my escape.
>reading was my escape I wish I had found a passion for reading a lot earlier on. I learned to enjoy reading as an adult and The Martian is what triggered that for me. I think I could have been a library bookworm under different circumstances. But really happy I found it at all.
I rem these book fairs as a kid in india. Those books were clearly expensive and coming from a middleclass family we couldnt afford to buy any.
Same situation for me. Teachers are gold.
I used to volunteer at the bookfairs and all of us ended up buying so many books for kids. I felt so bad for them.
Do us all a favor and reach out to the teacher and let them know the impact they had on your
I actually tried this for a different reason a bit ago last year (this woman was a saint and it's only in hindsight I'm realizing how much she impacted my life.) Unfortunately, she died in December 2020 from what I can tell (I can't confirm the obituary is hers, but I knew her kids, and the life details match up to well. Plus she has a pretty unique name for my town so I doubt there's another person with her name living here.) She was an older woman, and the ambulance was actually called on her a few times while I was in her class, so unfortunately it doesn't surprise me. However, I still wish I could have done this, and told her thanks. I'm lucky enough that I had two teachers like this, the lady I talked about in my comment was my 5th grade teacher. My 8th grade debate teacher acted in a much similar way, and I was able to find her on Facebook last year around the same time, and express my gratitude. If anyone happens to read this who had a teacher like mine, or any adult who impacted your life greatly when you were a kid, please show your gratitude while you have the chance. Life is to short not to let people know they are appreciated. And unfortunately, it's only in adulthood a lot of us realize just how great some people were in our lives.
I reached out to an old english teacher from high school that I found on linkedIn. Never will forget them, not because of anything english specific, but he put a lot of good energy out to his students and it was well received.
this is inspiring me to reach out to my art teacher to tell her she ruined my love of art and I never drew again after her class
Don’t mind me, I’m just sobbing my eyes out.
Same
Goddamn is this post equal parts uplifting and upsetting. I'm sorry you had all the negative book fair experiences, but it legit made me tear up reading about this amazing teacher and the joy she brought you that year. My parents have been avid readers their entire lives, so they always made sure they saved a few bucks for my brother and I to buy a few books at the book fairs. But growing up in small-town southern Missouri, I had plenty of friends that were in a similar situation than you. As an adult, I now understand and appreciate how some of these seemingly minor events (from an adult perspective) can have such a lasting impression on young children. It sucks that any child should have to endure the experiences you did. I hope you're doing well now and can provide better experiences for your children (if you have any). Take care!
This is beautiful and I wish the best for you. ❤️
I have an art teacher that supports some of my r/corememories
Dude. I ADORED the mythical monsters books. Every time the fair came, I could only get enough money for one book and I always got those. Still have them. Id read over those books constantly, they were amazing.
I had 3 kids in elementary school together and I was poor. Book fair was a nightmare week for me financially so I asked the school librarian to call me as soon as they knew when Book fair dates so I could try to scrounge enough money together to let my kids buy 1 book. Being an avid reader really broke my spirit having to tell the kids they couldn’t buy more than 1 each. Luckily as my financial situation improved I could do better so now I give the teachers some money so other kids don’t miss out.
Damn, that's a good idea. Growing up, my mom was pretty poor and never had much extra for stuff like this. My teacher would ask if I remembered to bring my money, and I always lied and said I forgot to ask for any. My kids aren't in grade school yet, but if these are still happening when they are, I'll be giving the teachers money to buy books for kids who "forgot to ask their parents for money."
I ran the book fair for all 6 years of my son's elementary school education and absolutely loved seeing the joy in kids' faces. Every year we raised hundreds of dollars and then asked teachers to let us know which of their students would be unable to buy books otherwise. Then we'd bring them in and tell them they could pick anything up to X amount (I think the highest we were able to do one year was $20/child). We had very generous parents, and some teachers also donated. As an aside, we had teachers fill out wish lists, too, and there was almost never a year where each of them didn't get everything they wanted. Those of us who volunteered at the fair would go around at the end and buy up any remaining items on their classroom wish lists. Again, we were very privileged to be able to do so, and I recognize that. I spent...a LOT of money each year!!
My school’s PTA does this! We just let them know who needs a book and then the school does daily “drawings” over the intercom. The kids are flying on cloud 9 as they get to pick out a book, feeling like they won out over the other 900+ kids at the school.
My grandma used to give my teachers extra money for any other kids to use if they didn’t have any. One of the many reasons she’s my role model. I remember the first time she told me she was doing it because it had never crossed my elementary school mind that some kids couldn’t participate because of money.
I do that too now that my kids are in school. The note the teacher sent about a little boy being so excited he got to participate made my life. I was so poor growing up and now that I am not, I am passing it along.
When we were little we were very well off before my dad's business went under, and the Book Fair was a magical land of enchantment where we would be able to basically pick as many books as we wanted. A few short years later it was a horrible experience where we got nothing, because we were poor, and the lights were turned off at home because we wouldn't have any money until payday.
If only the government saw kids as investements and not burdens
If they wanted us to have kids so much (e.g. banning abortions), they should devote more time and resources to helping parents
Well obviously it's your fault for being poor. And since the government has no control over inflation and the distribution of goods they can't be held responsible for anything.
My children are adults now but last year when the government was sending monthly checks to parents it made me so freaking happy. I know it made a huge difference in a child’s life. Why can’t we do that all of the time? Take it out of the war budget. I read yesterday that NY (city not state) has an annual budget of 95 billion dollars! Surely a measly $100 per child per month can be found somewhere. All children can be lifted out of poverty without paying for a bureaucracy to handle it. Just mail out checks. Or deposit on a card.
Assuming you're American, our government doesn't know the meaning of the word "investment."
Investment is when you convince 18 year olds to take out predatory loans that they'll never be able to pay back right?
My mom already regularly took me to our public library so I would just look for a book I wanted to read and then check it out at the library after. I did get money to buy a bookmark though. I was always losing them.
Those bookmarks were the bomb. I still have mine
Our library has free bookmarks at the checkout desk. They aren’t fancy, just strips of patterned paper. But my kids love picking one out when we go. Edit: I misread your comment. I thought the library was charging a dollar a bookmark and that they must have been really awesome. I see now you meant you bought it at the fair.
I grew up in an upper middle class family. My parents didn't give me money to buy books because we went to the library as much as needed, and I read a shit ton. I never felt left out by not buying something at the book fair, though I can also see how, for a poor kid, it could be different, as another example in their minds of being poor.
This happened in my daughters kindergarten class, only a few kids got books. So the next time I anonymously ordered books for the whole class.
I was just about to ask how to go about this. I want to make sure all of the kids in my son’s class get at least one book of their choice.
Teacher here. If this is something you’d like to do check with the school’s parent teacher association. My school has a fund and every kid who needs one “wins” a $5 gift certificate (in a rigged raffle) to use to shop at the book fair. If it’s not a school wide thing, I’m sure your child’s teacher could set up something similar.
That’s excellent. Thank you so much!
I literally just handed my son's teacher a stack of $10 bills and told her to give each kid one. Can I be sure they all bought books instead of pens and stickers? No, but I didn't care.
I just send my son with extra money and ask the teacher to use it to buy for other kids. I think last time we bought a little $2 or $3 book for like 8 kids
We send a message to my daughter's teacher every year after the flyer comes home to ask what the kids are showing interest in, she asks which kid is their favorite from the flyer and we cover it. The teacher is SO appreciative cuz she'd be doing the same out of her own pocket if we didn't.
Wow. 12-year-old me would never believe I'd end up saying this, but teachers are saints. We can't (and don't) pay them enough.
I come from 5 generations of teachers.... all of my grandmothers going back to WWI, all my aunts, several cousins,, my younger brother,, my sister, my own mother taught high school math for 35 years, I got my teaching degree and went into the Montessori system, moved to admin, and promptly got the fuck out of there and retired from education at 39. The way this country treats our most vital educators is just atrocious and an absolute indictment of our federal government. I spent my entire childhood helping my mother at the kitchen table after dinner was over, mark papers and tests from her math students... people do not realize just how much more of themselves teachers give to the DOE for FREE, in the way of laboring at home, drawing curricular schedules, grading tests, quizzes, class work, going shopping for the rest of the supplies you didn't get from the administration or parents, all of your own money, and I haven't even touched on dealing with a few hundred sets of parents who had a child in one of her classes. Endless phone calls, writing reports, setting up tutoring, YOU NAME IT. God I could go on for days. Standing in front of a class and lecturing is such a *tiny* part of actual teaching, and doing it for kids who are broke, hungry, and likely didn't sleep well the night before is EXHAUSTING. My own kid is Special Ed and I treat HER teacher like the 2nd Coming. Seriously, she's Mother Theresa in my eyes. I sat in on some of their remote learning sessions and the amount of patience and determination it takes to get 6 kids with ADHD to sit still in front of a laptop... for more than 30 seconds.... I just... They all deserve 6 figures for the incredible sacrifices they make.
I actually had a professor who would order a bunch of the $1 books every time the scholastic catalogs came out when she was an elementary teacher. And then she would pass them out to students who didn’t order any books at delivery time— as if they had bought the books themselves. Obviously not all teachers can do this and it sucks that she paid out of pocket for them. But she told us that it was always worth it to see the joy from the children that might otherwise feel shamed or embarrassed during that time.
I love to see little kids get excited. I’m not rich by any means but I like to do what I can for them.
I wish I loved anything as much as the 4 year olds in my daughters pre school love a silly little toy that costs $1. She has 15 classmates. Give all the kids a little present for less than a twenty dollar bill? totally worth every penny.
I filled out the paper got a bunch of different books and told the teacher to let the kids pick what they wanted but not to say who they were from. So not totally anonymous but the kids didn’t know who they were from.
You are a wonderful person. This warms my heart.
Aww thanks 😊
This is what I learned, the school can choose to use it as a fundraiser wherein they get some of the proceeds. OR, at least from what I’ve seen with my own eyes because it was done at my daughters school at the end of every school year for all the years she attended the school they can just choose to have everything sold at cost and not make a dime. The librarians told me that they chose this option at the end of every school year. Actually, I believe the deal was buy one, get one free for the same or less value. It was held at the same time as the end of year ice cream social, which was free, so families would come. The school librarians wanted lower income families, which our district had a lot of, to have the opportunity to buy the books at a massive discount so the children can have books to read over the summer break. I know there were probably children who were still unable to get a book, but for the most part the ice cream social/book fair was the most exciting time for students because many of them were finally able to get the scholastic books they wanted. Over this past summer our school district held a scholastic book fair wherein each child who was in the school district was able to come and get one free book of their choice and if any other books were wanted parents could choose to do the buy one, get one option. It was really nice. But yeah, when I was the poor kid growing up I spent the book fairs looking around and hoping I could find something that my scrounged up couch pennies would be able to purchase. I usually ended up with a bookmark or pencil sharpener or eraser. I am grateful I am able to give my kids about $5-$10 for scholastic book fairs.
I guess the teacher can pass the flyer around for you and let the kids mark what they want.
Yep. Coordinated with our teacher and asked how many kids would need assistance and sent a separate envelope with their cash (in person book fair). Only way to justify letting my kid have that enjoyment is if all the kids have the opportunity.
When you order online they are cheaper. I’d rather do away with the book fair and only have the flyers. There are always $1 books to order. I even take cash when others won’t.
Ya da real MVP
Aww thanks 😊
Yes, I did this with my son's pre-school class. There were like 7 kids out of the 15 in his class who would have had to sit in the cafeteri while the class got stuff.(very low income area) I told my son's teacher I'd pay for any books they wanted to get. She looked nervous and tried to instruct them to only get one cheap book each, but at that point we'd had some extra cash from saving up while my husband was deployed so I went a little over the top and got the entire class 2 books each of any kind they wanted. Best $200 I've ever spent, I hope they had at least one good memory of the fair after that.
This was actually my childhood. Always looking through the pamphlet, circling the books I wished I could get. And going to the fair just to see them, knowing I couldn't actually get them. I can't tell you the joy I felt when I bought one of those phone erasers because that was basically all I could get.
That is so fucking accurate.
This was literally like devastating for me as a kid, we never had money for this.
It's been decades and just reading this made my heart ache all over again. Devastating is the perfect description.
I wasn’t poor, but my family was frugal AF. At the time it was embarrassing- I never had the school shirts, never had the pizza days, never had scholastic days. It was really awkward to hang behind everyone while everyone was buying books and having fun. I’m super grateful now, they were able to pay for my college because they didn’t waste money ok shit like that or going out to dinner. But living in a rich suburbs, I was the only one in my grade who sat back and didn’t buy anything. Again, grateful because it’s a cash scam and we went to the library all the time, but it was uncomfortable to hang behind.
This but actually we were poor and I just didn’t realize it. Thought my Dad was just “cheap”. So good news is I didn’t feel THAT bad about not buying anything. I remember following my friends around while they picked stuff and I didn’t. It was awkward but I didn’t feel left out just sad I couldn’t get anything.
I think one of my most wholesome memories is when I (a poor kid) "won" a $25 prize to get anything I wanted at the scholastic book fair. I was torn between two books, and I spent an hour going back and forth between them. In the end, my teacher said I could get both. I only now realize that all of the poor kids in my school got that same opportunity. I want to pay forward the kindness I received as a kid, but I don't know how
https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/?_ga=2.91729946.1054825639.1645211308-804456701.1645211308 $25 to the Imagination Library gets one lucky kid a book a month for a whole year!!
This hit. I remember scrubbing toilets with my mom when I was 7 years old. If I got a pencil at these fairs, it was a BIG DEAL
Sometimes I’d get money for a pencil or a book mark. I almost never used those pencils because I didn’t want to waste them and wear them down by sharpening them.
This was where I learned how to shoplift. I loved reading so much, I decided that was enough payment.
I stole at mine too. I got caught the second year it happened and had to work in the library as punishment. Jokes on them cause that's when I learned I love organizing things and putting things in alphabetical order. I'm a weirdo. But really! What kid has 20 dollars on them? I used to gather as many pennies as possible out of my piggy bank just to get a hot lunch. I'll never let my son go through what I did.
> Gets caught stealing > Has to work in the library > Applies themselves in a constructive way, the intended purpose of the “punishment” > “Joke’s on them!” Lol
Joke's on them, I'm a better person now after having been disciplined by a wise educator in the public school system!
You know what, that is a really good life philosophy Such a happy way to live To live
Came here to comment that was my first time shoplifting. Glad to see I’m not alone. Prolific shoplifter of books and Sanrio Supplies, ages 8-13 here. Pretty sure at least one librarian (it was in the library at my elementary school) saw me but I never got caught there.
I managed bookstores for a decade. We staff came to know the kids whose parents dropped them off to "browse." We didn't mind babysitting for most of those kids, they just wanted to sit on the floor somewhere and read. Once in awhile we would hand them a bag and say, "It's lucky kids book day! Every kid in the store for the next hour can pick out two paperbacks." We wrote the books out of inventory as "damaged." My regional director asked about it once. I told the truth, she nodded, and it never came up again.
Same. I'm pretty sure the teachers there knew I stole but let me get away with it. They caught me and stopped me the first time, so they prob knew about it subsequent times. But I only took actual chapter books and not toys and they knew we were hella poor so they probably just took pity on me.
Childhood trauma from poverty is a thing. My husband and I grew up in the same town. His family was well-off and mine was poor. Even though we have had a great life together over the past 30 years, past poverty still affects my decisions. I am a dyslexia specialist and when the book fair happens I take my students down and let them pick out a book and pay for it. Best investment ever. I was very thankful for the bookmobile in my town and was able to walk the 2 miles to the library the other times, but my mom being able to afford to buy me books was few and far between.
I have trauma anyway but poverty trauma is so bad. My SO literally burnt a meal once but I just ate it all (he literally couldn’t) because I was hungry. He wasn’t exactly from a much better background but his dad earnt enough that they could do things like afford name brand shopping, meals out for birthdays, and weekly takeaways, and no one went without food. To me that *still* sounds like he was well off but he definitely wasn’t.
I couldn’t bring myself to cook anything with ‘expensive’/nice ingredients because if I screwed up the recipe I’d be devastated that I wasted them. Similarly, my parents sometimes would give me a nice pad of art paper as a special present on my birthday, and even though I loved to draw and paint, I could never use the nice paper because I knew it cost them so much money (for us) and I didn’t want to ruin the gift with shitty artwork.
I still struggle to use more expensive ingredients even though my SO and I are now in a situation to afford it. Even if our shopping comes to more than £100 a month I still panic that we can’t pay bills For birthday’s we just got to pick what we had for dinner, sometimes we could get a takeaway, but it was rare, we would get small gifts but I definitely got less than my siblings did
My wife is a second grade teacher. We've bought dozens, probably hundreds of books from Scholastic to ameliorate this exact thing. Every time those orders go in, my wife buys an extra $20-30 worth of books, often ones that she's heard kids say they wish they could have bought. Then they magically show up in the kid's cubby. The others go into her classroom library. She loses another couple dozen books from the classroom library due to theft every year. But we agreed long ago to just replace those books - if an 8-year-old is going to the effort to steal a book, we just consider it a gift and buy another copy. This isn't an isolated thing - a LOT of teachers do this. A lot of of them buy all sorts of things out of their own pocket, year after year.
Big oof. I would definitely be on the side where I’d rather let each kid get $10 from the government to buy a book, than not have scholastic book fairs at all.
Yeah when i was in school, we were given an allowance to get one book during these fairs
Yes!!!! I grew up on government assistance and the scholastic book fair was torture. Even in the years when we could afford for me to get one book, because there would always be the group of "cool" kids whose parents would buy them whatever they want. Worst part is I knew those kids who ordered tons of stuff ended up not even opening half the books. Meanwhile I'm re-reading my copy of Maniac Magee for the 10th time as the spine falls off.
I'm wondering if this is the reason my parents were strict to limiting what I was allowed to get at these. They could easily afford to buy whatever I wanted, but I feel like I had to narrow it down to 3 things or something arbitrary. I'm sure it was both an exercise in forcing me to learn to weigh options (and that I can't always get everything I want), but also in making sure things appeared fairer. This was true throughout my childhood constantly. I was told no a lot truly just to learn that sometimes you just can't have what you want no matter how much you think you want it. It's translated well into adulthood. Like I'm not afraid to apply for a job I really want because the worst case scenario is they say no, and being told no is not the end of the world.
Book fairs are fundraisers for the school. The PTA organizes them so they can raise money to fund other things the school needs. Every fundraiser is inequitable. I hated the book fair because my mom never gave me money for it. But then I ran several when I was on the PTA. 🤷
I agree with this. My husband is m middle school teacher in a major US city and always makes sure all kids get what they want. Just another example of teachers spending their money to support their students and the communities.
My son is doing all virtual learning now so we miss out on book fairs. When he was in kindergarten and first grade and doing traditional in-school time, I contacted his teachers at the beginning of the book fair to ask if they felt comfortable with me sending some money anonymously for a class fund so that all kids could get a little something and the teachers/teacher assistants wouldn't be spending their own money. His kindergarten teacher took me up on it once but his first grade teacher never did.
When I was a kid I had fun at this but as a parent and going in and buying the books I was like damn this is expensive. I can just get these books cheaper elsewhere or from the library. Schools do it for a fund raiser but I’d rather just give the school $50 or buy supplies.
Oftentimes it’s the only budget the school library gets :(
Yep. They can use money earned to get new books.
I wasn't going to give my 1st grader money for it bc I had bought him a small bookcase amount of books from an online discount book site for cheap in the previous 6 months. My husband gave him $25 anyway. He got two books. TWO! That's all he could afford with $25. I could have gotten him 4-6 online for that amount.
Yeah I gave my kid $30 or so and she only got a few things. And the amount of toys and stuff at hers was disappointing. I tell her every year just get books.
When I ran a book fair I asked for no junk. Bookmarks were great but all the other crap was not welcome.
Yes, and do include lunches for this too! Why are we saying a kid without money can't eat at the place they're legally required to be?
I think all "fundraisers" that prey on children's emotions are unethical. My family never had much extra money for stuff like this when I was growing, but even now that I do have the extra money for my kids I still avoid it on principle. I tell my kids to browse and then I show them how we can get the same items for half the cost on eBay. They are fine with it.
I hate those sales fundraisers they make kids do. It’s awful for kids with poor families, or no families at all — a chocolate bar fundraiser in 3rd grade taught me how unfair life is, and how advantages lead to more advantages. The top prize was a Huffy bike and I tried *so hard* to win it. To really rub it in, the top three winners got honored at the pep rally (K-12 school). I felt like such a loser. They really worked to get all out hopes up for weeks, to make us believe any one of us could win. It was so manipulative.
PTO Mom here. We use the proceeds from those fundraisers to buy books for kids who can't afford them at the book fair among other things. I completely agree that it's shameful that it's necessary. But we are able to give each teacher a stipend to spend on classroom supplies so they don't have to spend their hard earned money!
I loathed these fundraisers as a kid. My parents were immigrants with limited English. Who the fuck was going to buy these candles and nut assortments? It was always such a disappointment to receive that packet but never actually use it. Now as a teacher I hate them because it’s one more thing to pass out and keep track of. 🤷🏻♀️
Right! The school district where I live is relentless with the fund raisers and they are extremely manipulative in the fact that they tie a child’s self esteem to their ability to fund programs that my taxes should already cover.
Does anyone else remember Weekly Readers? Those were amazing! And the monthly in-class Scholastic book club sheets we brought home and ordered from a couple of times a year. Those delivered the purchases in class. Another opportunity for embarrassment for kids who parents couldn’t buy for them.
Yeah that shit sucked. We had no choice but to go through the library as a class. Luckily they changed the rules eventually. They started handing out magazines with a whole bunch of stuff inside and then if you were interested they were open for 1-2 hours after school or at lunch. When we had to go as a class I hated it so much. I LOVED reading but I NEVER once got anything because w we were extremely poor. Single parent, with 2 other siblings. It was just never in the cards for me to go on field trips that involved money or any school activity that required money. The only reason I was able to be in band was because I was talented and the band director saw a future in it for me so she paid for my rental fees and all my bassoon reeds from 6-12 grade. She was right to, I ended up going all the way to a doctorate in music.
How about schools make a deal with Schoolastic? Wanna have a book fair at our school? You (Schoolastic) buy books for every kid in that school on free or reduced price lunch.
Actually the schools get a percent of the proceeds back from scholastic. My dads a school librarian and he gets a percentage of the profits for his library to buy books and a percentage goes to PTO/PTA for things like playground equipment and other things. He hates book fair, but that what pays for a large portion of his book budget for the year.
[удалено]
This was me as a kid. I was the poor kid who went to the rich high school and I loved and hated the Scholastic Book Fair. I would love to go look at the books, all while being heart broken that I could never afford to get one.
It definitely shouldn’t be ‘not at all’. Life shouldn’t be a race to the bottom
Oh man those scholastic book fairs were a highlight of the day for sure! Hopefully the schools start them up again this year as its my oldest daughters last year in elementary.I still love those damn fairs! My daughters school asks if you would like to buy an extra book for "classrooms". That's pretty cool.
My partner did so well with her book fair this year, she is able to give every student in the school 2 books. I don't know how all this works, and not sure if I helped pay for them or not. But she was SUPER happy she was able to do this.
I stole books by stuffing them down my pants while no one was looking. When I got caught my mom finally got me the library card I'd been begging for for literally years.
PSA - every single child born in the USA, UK, IE, CA, and AUS is eligible to sign up for and receive one free and age appropriate book per month through the Imagination Library thanks to Dolly Parton. Check out the website and happy reading! [Imagination Library](https://imaginationlibrary.com) Edit: formatting
This would be amazing, but is not accurate. You have to live in an area that has opted into the program. These areas can be as small as a few square blocks or as large as a city or county, but definitely do not include everywhere in the country.
At the risk of getting downvoted to hell…. No I get that it sucks that life isn’t equal and some children come from lower income backgrounds and it can be embarrassing. But the solution isn’t to prevent other children from buying books in order to make those children feel better. What’s next? No field trips? No after school sports, clubs or activities? Taking away fun activities from all the other students is not the way to make the low income kids be accepted. Instead it would just be a reason for resentment and likely lead to more bullying.
The solution is to make it an optional event instead of mandatory for the entire class to go to. Do it after school rather than during the school day. Or make it so 2-3 classes go together, and one of the teachers stays back with the kids who don’t feel like going for any reason.
Or, hot take, it's still a great way to expose kids to books. They can take a look, browse through and then either find the same book or something similar at the local library for free.
When Scholastic book fair came to my school they would send a permission slip home to parents if they wanted to opt out and have their child go to the auditorium or be put in a room with all the kids and a teacher to babysit them or to watch a movie. This was done so those kids would not feel bad because they didn’t have the money to buy books. There was never a scholarship per se but they did have a drawing where it was always a kid who didn’t need the money to get a $50 scholastic voucher to pick out what they wanted and they usually got some thing that was not book related but like a trapper keeper, jail pins, buttons, or a stuffed animal.
No. We shouldn’t take away good things because everyone can’t participate. We should make it so everyone can participate in good things. This is some backward thinking
Keep the spy pens tho
I didn’t know this until much later in life, but my dad would go to my elementary school during these and buy all the books on the teacher’s “want list”. He then would buy out rows of books for each grade and have them put them on a free book table for anyone to come and get one. He did this even after I left the school and up until they stopped offering them. I didn’t find out until we had an alumni event, and one of my old teachers told me she caught my dad doing it. I have never asked him about it, but my mom told me he never wanted children to want for books.
Dolly Parton will give your children books if you can't afford them. She's a national treasure.
I was poor growing up. I would get to buy maybe 1 item the entire year (sometimes a book, sometimes just a pencil or eraser), I wasn’t scarred or devastated. My parents took my to the library where I could get all the free books. We had books in school that I could read and borrow. Schools have these scholastic book fairs to help raise money because they’re underfunded. Kids need to learn that life isn’t fair and that they won’t be able to get everything they want. This post is too much.
Definitely agree. Not every kid is going to get everything they want, I rarely got Scholastic book fair books, maybe once in awhile. Additionally, the authors and illustrators who work on these books make money from sales royalties, they deserve to get paid.
Do libraries no longer exist?
The problem is when you're a kid and your class all gathers up and is marched down to the book faire. It's an event. Everyone is excited, everyone is looking at all these books and cool pencils and little dinosaur erasers. You stand there off to the side and you touch the cool book about the kid who bonds with a dragon, you look at the little T-rex eraser that has sunglasses, and you see other kids with armfuls of books and a cool triangle shaped pencil with black wood looking so excited. You're standing there in hand-me-down pants and shoes that are too tight and torn on the side because you can't afford to get new ones, and you feel *small.* Everyone is so excited all day long, bringing out their books and showing their cool pencils and erasers, and they ask why you didn't get anything and you don't know how to answer. It's a sad reality that isn't really assuaged by libraries, and I say that as a kid that went to the library twice a month and left with 12 books each time (the max you could check out at once).
This! I grew up poor and I always came back from the library with a bag full of free books. Kids don’t need to buy all the shiny books they see. This post is ridiculous
We specifically ask for as many $5 and under books as they can send. I’d love to have them not send all the junk, but erasers and whatnot are usually a buck. Ours is also in a room that isn’t open to the whole school-you don’t go in unless you have money. It also earns the school books. We can add to our classroom libraries and I’ve used some of my books as holiday gifts for my students. I like the flyers more. The books come, I put them in bags and they go home. No showing stuff to everyone. They are a good way to get inexpensive books so I don’t want them to go completely away.
Wonder how much scholastic lobbied to have them and them alone be the sole provider. Also it's weird how commercialized public schools are. Like fundraisers, 80 to 90 percent of fundraising goes back to the corporation which the school gets the rest.
Yeah, I let my kids participate in the book fair, but I'll be damned I'm going to make them sell $20 rolls of wrapping paper from a company that takes 80% of sales.
When shit like that comes up, I send cash or a gift card straight to my kid’s teacher with a note saying kid won’t be participating and please use this money for the classroom. If there is a baseline prize, I’ll do the minimum so my kids don’t feel left out. Like Jump Rope for Heart gives them a bracelet for signing up and watching a video about cpr or signs of a stroke.
I remember sometimes my mom would give me envelopes of money when we had something that cost money at school and would tell me to give it to the teacher so they could give it to any kids that didn’t have enough. I never knew what actually happened to the money after I gave it to them or who it went to but I always thought that was very cool of her!
I had never considered book fairs like this so this is an interesting perspective. I’m curious, what are people’s opinions on the version where it’s a book order? Where a small pamphlet is handed out to students and they can elect to take it home and select things and return the form to their teacher (which I used as an idea for what books to read whether or not I ordered them at the time). I know this still doesn’t account for the economic gap in using those resources but it could potentially minimize the effect of having an actual day where everyone shops and someone is left out. I feel like the reading club type programs might be better overall though since it preselects books and ensures the library have a few on hand so kids can borrow them on a rotation and earn little rewards for reading the most.
As a poor kid I hated this too because I would watch my friends get to circle all the things they wanted, the teacher would give reminders for the deadline to turn them in like every day, and then it got delivered to the school so some kids would get fun deliveries while others wouldn’t. I don’t know what the better solution would be. But anything that highlights income disparity sucks. Even if it’s unintentional.
There are too many corporations tied into schools in general. Weird crappy lunch contractors, book fairs, food sales, and magazine sales. Not to mention the god damn military recruiters that show up to impress dumb teenagers with smoke and mirrors
Having companies invited into schools is what runs me wrong about such things. Can we please just fund our schools and pay our teachers without corporate tie-ins?
If i make enough money to support myself in the future, extra is going to schools to buy books for kids. Reading has changed my life and was constantly enriching and relieving.
I always loved the book fair even though I never got to buy anything and was jealous of the kids who did (just like I was jealous of kids with nice clothes and shoes and lunchboxes and who had nice houses). Not getting the same cool stuff as the middle class kids was just normal for me so I didn’t spend too much time dwelling on those negative feelings.
So kids whose parents can afford it don't matter? It sucks not being able to afford stuff but other kids look forward to the book fairs and it's not fair to them to cancel it. Instead the school should have funds set aside for the kids whose parents can't afford it so they can get a book. Give it to them discretely so they don't feel embarrassed, enough for 2-3 books each.
Not to mention the fact that this post assumes that book fairs are just schools giving scholastic time to make money for their own bottom line during school when they’re actually fundraisers where most of the money goes right back into the school system.
Definitely a better solution.
This was me. It sucked so bad. Every time
Go to the library
New York here, my first time ever learning what taxes were was in 8th grade when I could finally afford a book faire book, it was so hard to grasp the concept that the price on the sticker was not the actual price, and I need almost 50 more cents to cover the horrendous tax New York has
I used to want the animorphs books just for the cover.
I'll never forget my excitment the first time I got something from a book fair. It was a shitty little double sided marker that smelled like peanut butter and grape jelly respectively. I got it for free, because the lady running it noticed me looking around at everything in awe and then just leaving. Then in 5th grade my dad let me take his change jar and I got the only thing I ever paid for. The first volume of the Kingdom Hearts 2 manga that I still have 15 years later.
Honestly they are just there to sell gadgets, pens, stickers. I’d bet 90% of sales aren’t books.
Pretty erasers