Denver School Wants to Dump Scholastic Book Fair

Any parent with kids in public schools knows about the ubiquitous Scholastic Book Fair Fundraiser. While a more palatable fundraiser than selling crummy candy, wrapping paper and refrigerator magnets, the Scholastic fairs have begun to feature fewer books and more junk–plush toys, fuzzy pencil toppers and more. And many of the books are of dubious quality, falling apart after one or two reads. One school in Denver has had enough. “We’re tired of being taken advantage of and held hostage,” said Jody Lang, a member of the book-fair committee at Hulstrom Options School, a public magnet school in Northglenn (CO). More from the Denver Post.

November 4, 2003 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. mcbride says:
    November 4, 2003 at 7:33 pm

    Good for them
    Wonderful. Although I don’t work in a school library, I’ve seen the materials recently, and it looks like a big waste of money. Let’s go back to a bake sales, or, God forbid, just donating the money by some other means than buying stuff like rabid consumers.

    I remember in my gradeschool that we collected bottle caps from soda, beer, etc., as a fundraising event. Local businesses agreed to donate money based on the number collected. I’ve got the photos somewhere, but it was pretty cool. It was a mountain of caps, probably the size of an SUV. I’m sure the effort involved didn’t raise a load of cash, but it was a school-wide effort.

    Reply
  2. djfiander says:
    November 4, 2003 at 8:18 pm

    Re:Good for them
    Even better, how about proper government funding for the public school system? Here in Ontario, Canada, things are a bit different, but my daughter’s school uses fundraising to buy essentials like textbooks.

    Reply
  3. birdie says:
    November 4, 2003 at 8:26 pm

    Re:Good for them
    I concur. There are so many wonderful kids books out there (I used to work for Kane/Miller Book Publishers — publishers of American editions of foreign children’s books, among them “Everyone Poops”), and it would be great if there were some choices other than Scholastic’s variety of flotsam. Dare I suggest (among other choices) some wonderful greeting card/bookmarks?

    Reply
  4. crow says:
    November 4, 2003 at 8:28 pm

    Bummer
    It’s a pity the program has slid so far downhill. When I was a kid, there were still decent books to read and it was always a thrill when the new order forms came out. Of course, I’ve been a book addict since I was a toddler, so this isn’t a real surprise. And now that I’m thinking about it, a lot of what I ordered, especially when I was older could be considered dreck…but it made me happy at the time.

    Reply

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