Coming up for air here.  I feel like the weeks have whizzed by.  After London, which was a great but exhausting trip, I helped coordinate the Scholastic book fair at Girl’s school.  This is a wonderful fund raiser for our school, but one that could not run without the help of many dedicated volunteers.  I also learned a few things along the way.

1. If you are going to get involved in something, be it at your kid’s school, in your town, or on a larger scale, make sure it’s something you really believe in.  We have many different fundraisers at school, from wrapping paper, to spirit wear, and the like.  But I love books, and I love helping kids discover new books.  I cannot imagine I would put as much of my free time, or even take days off of work, for anything else.  Having a passion for something means you will put the time into it to make it successful.

2. You need help!  I had 2 co-chairs working with me, but even then, we needed about 40 other people to staff the fair during the hours it was open.  We also had a separate team running our Family Event Night with their own group of volunteers.  You can never have too many.  Don’t try and take on too much yourself, feel free to get others who share your same passion and want to help out to do so.

3. Engage the teachers.  I had a few teachers walking silently through the fair, not wanting to influence what the kids picked up.  Guess what?  Few people know these kids better than they do, save their parents, and even then…  They know what’s appropriate for them to read and they need to speak up and be listened too.  Girl’s former Second Grade teacher was heard telling a kid “this was a book fair, not a pen fair, so go buy a book!”  Love that.

4. Engage the parents – I wish I could tell every parent how much the book fair means to these kids.  When they forget to send them with money, or send them with $2 because “every book costs a dollar”, which isn’t true, it breaks their heart (and mine!).  They want to go with their peers and pick out a new book.  If you’re going to send them with money, have an idea about what the average book cost is.  We’re going to write that in a parent letter next year.  If you’re only having them browse during the fair because you’re coming back in the evening, make sure they understand they can put aside a book for you to pick up and pay for later.  It’s fine, we’re not going anywhere, but sometimes the books are, and you want to make sure they can get what they want.  Also, we put together a wish list of books that can be bought for the classroom.  You even get a nifty book plate where you can put your name as the book’s benefactor.  Teachers really appreciate this, as do the kids.  Make sure you have one and you promote it well.

Overall, we raised slightly less money than the fair did last year, which means in this economy, we did very well.  I probably won’t be as involved next year, as Girl will be moving up to a new school and Boy isn’t due there for a while, but I know I will want to come back to it.  Aching feet and bleeding eyeballs be dammed, I had a great time.

Yes, only two more days before I leave for the big Vegas blowout weekend.  And you’d be surprised what the main topic of debate is.  No, it’s not who will be lugging the big suitcase with them to the office (I’m certainly hoping that Mr. IT, who is taking a bus from the office to the airport will volunteer – I have to take many subways and luggage and NYC subways do not mix).

Rather, the big debate is what books I should bring.  I know right now you’re thinking a weekend in Vegas doesn’t exactly spell big literary extravaganza.  But hear me out.  I don’t have as much spare reading time as I used to when I took a train to work.  I drive, and that’s not really conducive to reading (don’t even try to tell me audio books count, because they don’t.  I’m a visual learner and those don’t work for me.)  

I’m going to have a 5 hour flight, plus airport waiting time, plus leisurely minutes while Mr. IT fetches breakfast for me every morning (if I’m dreaming, don’t wake me).  I’m thinking 3 books will be needed.  One, a fun read, maybe chick lit, maybe not.  Another, a more procedural mystery type of book.  The third, something in the sci-fi genre.  Just because.  I’ll probably get to books in the reverse order from what is listed, but that’s ok too.

Heard an ad for this book tonight (who says radio ads don’t work!).  I might check that out.  Or Steve Martin’s new memoir – love his writing and his story sounds interesting.

If anyone has other suggestions, don’t hesisate to let loose and “throw a book at me.”

The book fair has drawn to a close and I think we did really well in terms of sales.  The Family Night was a big success.  I can’t say it was better or worse than last year, just that it was good.  More money was raised, which is a good thing, but not everything.  I think people had a good feeling about the event and will attend next year, which is probably the most important thing in my mind.  With that in mind, I would like to share my “Book Fair Success tips”:

1. At the Family event night, our craft table was not set up properly, which ended up working to our advantage.  I was supposed to have “demo crafts” set up that the kids could replicate, but never got the time.  Instead, stuff was lovingly placed on the table, which ended up giving kids the opportunity to experiment and have fun making all sorts of different things.  It was the most popular table at the event night.

2. A freezer from Cold Stone Creamery can indeed fit upright in the back of a Honda Pilot, but you need two people to carry it back and forth.  Just thought you might need to know that someday. 

3. Last year people were surprised to see Ice cream there and were not prepared to buy.  This year, we advertised that we were selling ice cream, so many came prepared to purchase, which was good. 

4. Have more volunteers that you think you need.   We had some hard workers, which helped, but we didn’t have some of the kid volunteers from last year who gave the event a certain energy.   With fewer volunteers, kid and adult, we were at a bit of a disadvantage but made it work. 

5. Delegate!  Think Tom Sawyer painting the fence.  Don’t try and do everyone yourself.  There are people who want to volunteer – find things for them to.  It makes everyone saner.  I tend to be a controller, and I can’t do the crafts, put together the games, bake all the food, and so on.  (See why I say it was “really nothing”?  Ha!)

6. Handselling works at the book fair too!  Classes have set times to visit the fair during school hours where parents can attend as well.  Teachers can put a wish list together and kids/parents to buy books for the class.  Have one of the parents offer the wish lists to the other parents to make sure they are aware of the list.  Not pushy, but a great way to do something nice for the class. 

Can’t wait for next year!

Remember, it’s Book Fair season in my world.  Outside of work, it’s hard to think of anything outside of books, books and books.  You could easily make the argument that my thought process outside of work isn’t much different than it is on the inside, and in some ways, you would be right.  However, there is one crucial difference.  At work, I am a “producer” and at home I am a “consumer”.  In both locations, I’m concerned about the right book going into the hands of the right customer.  At home, the stakes just happen to be higher.

Little IT has always been a book fiend.  She once went trick or treating at a co-workers house two towns away because she heard she gave out books to kids instead of candy.  She’s like I was a kid, just a voracious reader.  That’s slowing, and I am not sure what’s to blame. 

When she began coming home with homework this school year, the “reading” portion was mostly comprehension exercises in the form of the state mandated test she will be taking later in the school year.  Because the school board policy is 45 minutes of homework a night for 3rd graders, they can’t really require the 20 minutes of free choice reading that she got in 2nd grade.  As a result, she wasn’t doing it.  While she has plenty of other activities in the evening (violin and piano practice, the rest of her homework, getting her lunch ready for the next day) I still missed the 20 minutes of quiet time that she would take to read a new book.

Not liking this, I decided to kill 2 birds with 1 stone and started involving her with reading to IT Boy.  We’d pick out books, sometimes 1-2, sometimes more, depending on his ever-mercuirial toddler temperment, and alternate reading them to him.  Lately, we’ve gotten up to 5-6 books, more if he can slug down his nightly bottle of milk while we read.  I’ve even snuck in harder books, so she’s getting in more reading.

With Book Fair looming, she had a plethora of books she wanted to take home.  I decided to enter into a contract with her to insure that she put that 20 minutes, excluding the bonding time with IT Boy, into her nightly routine.  She readily agreed, and I am hoping she sticks to it. 

I’ve talked to other parents of kids in her grade, and they’ve reported similar conflicts over the reading.  I certainly understand why the teachers can’t require it, but we did suggest that their recommendation about reading come through with a bit more force.  I don’t want her to ever give up her reading.  In fact, over time I’m hoping to bring back her writing book.  I know she writes in class, but last year we had a composition book that she had to write a page in every night.  Sometimes it was nonsense (“Cassie is my best friend.  Who is my best friend?  Cassie is..”), sometimes it was a bit more deep (“Chicken nuget day at schol is most populer”*), but it was something.  She was in the habit of writing every day, and it was helping her so much in other areas of her schoolwork. 

*sic

It will be interesting talking to parents tonight at the book fair about how they are helping to keep their kids interested in reading.  What strategies do you think work for this, and what’s worked for you?

For me, next week is all about the Scholastic book fair at IT Girl’s school.  I work with the Book Fair committee to plan Family Event Night. On the night the book fair is open, we put together a fun place for kids to play when they’re done browsing through the books.  We have face painting, games, raffles, snacks and more. We’ve really raised the bar from year to year, with the vision of turning it into a night for the whole community to be a part of and proud of.  We’re succeeding in that goal, and are so grateful for the support of the school and the village.

In a similar vein, when I was reading through Publishers Weekly, I saw a great article that made me smile.  Green Apple Books in San Francisco is honoring the store’s 40th anniversary by giving every one of the 3900 third graders in the city’s public school district $10 credit to buy books at their store. 

Ryan said Green Apple decided to extend a hand to third graders because he heard somewhere that that was a pivotal age for children and their relationship to reading.

I love this idea, and think stores big and small should look at doing something like this to help children experience the magic of books. I can imagine how those kids going into the store are going to feel because I was very like those kids when I was growing up. My elementary school served a neighborhood inhabited by people of very modest means. It would not have been able to support a book fair where people came to buy books, but in a way, we had something even better. RIF (Reading is Fundamental) came to our school every year, which allowed kids to pick out 2 FREE books. I remember the uncontainable excitement I felt as I spent the full hour browsing through all the books to make sure I picked the best 2 books I could possibly pick. Upon returning to my classroom, my “treasures” were put in my bookbag, to be unpacked right before bedtime when I could savor them to my heart’s content. That had to be one of my happiest days of the entire school year.

I wish that every kid could learn that books bring that much wonder and joy to your life. I see the same look in Little IT’s eyes when she goes to her school’s book fair. No, she isn’t walking out of there with 2 free books. Doing what I do for a living, it’s very hard to say no to a book, and last year she went to the fair three times (Donuts with Dad, Family night, and with her class) so she brought home quite a few new books. I do reserve the “No!” for things like the umpteenth High School Musical sticker book or a horrifically written book (Junie B, anyone?). I’m fine with adaptations of Disney TV shows like The Suite Life or, yes, even Hannah Montana – just as long as she keeps on reading.