My Love-Hate Relationship with Book Fairs

We just finished up our fall book fair.  It was great.  Went off without a hitch.  

Can I be frank? 

I loathe school book fairs. 

No, that isn't entirely accurate. 

I really do love them.  

Setting it up is like Christmas morning. Opening each case to find the treasures inside. 

I love looking through the box of pens and erasers and junky stuff that kids love and parents roll their eyes at (me included). (Full disclosure: I once bought 15 of the invisible-ink-with-a-blacklight-to-send-secret-codes pens. Not as a child; I did this as an adult.)

I really love buying books at my children's book fairs.  I feel like there should be a secret handshake just for those who set up and run book fairs to keep ther libraries going. 

And there it is.  The loathing. 

I have a truly love-hate relationship with book fairs. 

I work in a district with a poverty level of over 50%.  My heart breaks for those kids who never get to buy anything. Or not the thing they want.  

I am thankful for the box of "vlue books" that are $2 or $3, but for some, that is still too much. 

And at the end of it all, when we cash out the fair, we get to choose 50% if we take stuff from the fair itself, 4o% if we take credit from the company, and 30% if we take cash. 

We always take credit (after getting all the books we can possibly use from the fair itself), because there is a huge difference between 30% and 40%, especially when that money is what will keep the library going, should grants fall through. 

And there it is, again.  

I am mad. Mad that the library is funded through the generosity of community members and the profits of sales from a book fair. I am mad that this is the system we have.  Books are important. Reading is important. Libraries are crucial.  Everyone agrees on this.  So let's fund the library? No? Oh, but hey! Book fair profits!

Our fair was very successful this year.  We sold over $3,000 worth of stuff. In the end, after taxes as all the rest, we got $150 in books from the fair and have a credit of $672. 

Library bound books (that will last and have guarantees) for the K-3 age group run around $20 each.  That means we can get about 33 books.   

That isn't a typo.  

33 books. 

So, yeah, I am mad.  And I am jealous. 

I am jealous that we don't bat an eye at new football uniforms and shell out tens of thousands of dollars for the new science curriculum. 

But we need a science curriculum!  Yes, yes we do.  Do you know what else we need?  A library. And books. 

Can I get Nike to sponsor the library? 

Can I sell advertising on the shelves to Coke? 

No, that's absurd.  As it should be.  

What else is absurd?  Expecting a library in a high-poverty district to fund itself solely on the profits of a book fair and the generosity of strangers.