One of the largest scholastic book fairs in Minnesota rolled through Creek Valley Elementary School last April, bringing thousands of books with it. “It really is like walking into a Banes & Noble,” event chairperson Jen Berge says.
Since 2004, the school has hosted the enormous book sale, selling more than $15,000 worth of books every year. According to Scholastic book fair consultant Alisa Halak, the 2011 fair sold 2,678 books for a total of 482,144 reading minutes. Last year, the school netted just less than $14,000, which was used by the media center to stock up on more books.
The three-day event kicked off with an ice cream social April 24, which also gave parents the opportunity to buy books from the wish lists their kids compiled earlier in the day. Teachers also created their own wish lists for classrooms, filling bins with books that parents purchase directly.
All week, teachers wore leis to celebrate the fair, handing out bingo cards for classrooms to win books and running lottery offering $5 gift certificates for the winners. While the event is usually held in February, this year’s book fair coincided with Creek Valley’s Grandparents Day, allowing grandparents to purchase a book for the library and dedicate it to their grandchild.
