2010 Scholastic Book fair set

Mark your calendar... November 8-13, 2010 is the tentative date for next year's HANCK Scholastic Book Fair!

Even though we had less than $300 in sales this year, we will be able to host another book fair.  I expected sales to be down somewhat from last year due to economic stresses, but we also had bad timing with illness in many families that had planned to come.
 
If we don't break $500 next year, I'm sure they won't let us do it again. We had to get an exception this time to book for 2010. At someone's suggestion (I think it was Kris), I have moved the fair to November. We'll advertise as early Christmas shopping and perhaps hold a Thanksgiving related event. I would definitely appreciate ideas for advertising, increasing traffic and sales, and ways to make it fun and inviting.

Scholastic Book Fair dates & times set

The HANCK hosted Scholastic Book Fair for Wichita area homeschoolers (and the general public) will be held at New Covenant UMC, 1718 W. Douglas, Wichita, KS 67203.

Dates/Times:
     Thursday, October 15, 1-5pm
     Friday, October 16, 10am-6pm
     Saturday, October 17, 9am-3pm

Besides the opportunity to buy books from pre-school to middle-school levels, we will be having a drawing for free books (need not be present at time of drawing to win, no purchase necessary), and we will participating in ONE for Books! (bring a dollar or change to donate to buy books for children in need, Scholastic matches the donation). Profits from the fair which usually go to books for the sponsoring school's library will be split between books for the Wichita Children's Home and our drawing winners.

I am also looking for a few more volunteers to help out. Volunteers will be thanked with free books!

Fall Book Fair Set

The date for our fall Scholastic Book Fair has been confirmed!

Mark your calendar for the week of October 12-17.

I suspect we will hold the fair on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday as we did last year, but that could change. Public schools in the area are out Friday 10/16, but that shouldn't really affect us.

I am looking for volunteers to help publicize, set up, work the fair, and pack up. Publicity is where I would like the most help. Having 1 other adult at all times during the fair worked well last time. If we have more than 2 workers (adults and/or teens), then we can keep it looking nice and help people find books. All volunteers will be thanked with free books!

As we did last year, the "book profit" from the fair will be split between fair visitors (through random drawings) and a local charity. Last year 20 fair visitors won free books, and about $100 worth of books were given to the Wichita Children's Home.

Fall Scholastic book ordering

I am going to place a Scholastic book order next Friday. This will be my only order until 2009. The best thing this time around is the gift certificates. Teachers can order the $4 gift certificates for $2. They are good for any book costing up to $4 this school year.

Sign in info for parent ording has been posted on HANCK. You can also email me for more info.

Prize winners!

If I calculated the sales and profit percentage right, we will have 23 book/map winners. We will also be donating about $80 worth of books to Harbor House or the YWCA Women's Crisis Center.

After I get the final charges and bonus information from Scholastic I will send emails and make phone calls.

Thank you to everyone who came and made the first HANCK Scholastic Book Fair a success!

I plan to hold another one, and I am open to suggestions on ways to make it better.

So if you came, please leave a comment letting me know what you liked the best and something to make it better. If you didn't come, please leave a comment telling me what change would entice you to come see it next time. Also, would next spring be good, or too soon?

Book Fair is a Success!

The Scholastic book fair is over, and I consider it to have been a success! The turn out was small, but it was large enough that we met our sales goal and will be able to host another fair in the future if we so choose.

I had 3 adult helpers and 9 children who were there sometimes helping (and sometimes trying to not be bored out of their heads).

It was good to see some homeschooling friends that I hadn't seen in a while. It was also fun to meet new people and find out how they heard about the fair. Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word!

This evening I'll add up the total sales and bonuses to figure out our "book profit" dollar amount. I will split that between the drawing for free books and the local safe house where we will be making a donation of books. This weekend I'll have my sons help with the drawing, then Monday I'll let all of the winners know.

Initial Book Fair Inventory

I have finished the initial inventory of our Book Fair books. We have 165 different titles that will be available to purchase and take home on the spot Thursday and Friday. We have a total of 543 books for sale, plus posters, pens, pencils, erasers, bookmarks, highlighters, and keyrings.

101 Back-to-School Jokes
2005 Secret Codes V 2
A Crooked Kind of Perfect
A Kiss Goodbye
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Alice the Fairy
Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls
Amazing Snakes
American Idol Journey to Stardom
Animal Families
Animal Planet Top 10 Countdown of Biggest, etc.
Barbie and the Diamond Castle
Beach & Seashore
Bear Feels Sick
Beast Quest
Best Seat in the 2nd Grade
Black Out Animals that Live in the Dark
Bone Treasure Hunters
Book of World Records 2008
Build a Burrito
Camp Rock: The Jr. Novel
Can You See What I See
Charlie Cook's Favorite Book
Cheetah Cubs
Circle Opens Magic Steps #1
Clifford Takes a Trip
Code Orange
Coke or Pepsi 3
Corduroy's Sweet Surprise
Crazy Hair Day
Crystal Mask
Curious George Makes Pancakes
Daily Reflections for Highly Effective Teens
DC: Attack of the Tyrannosaurus
Deep and Dark and Dangerous
Diary of Wimpy Kid - Do It Yourself
Disney Pixar Story Collection
Do Like a Duck Does
Dog & Bear
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late
Dragon Egg
Elephant Run
Elijah of Buxton
Emperor Penguins
Fairest
Fancy Nancy & the Boy From Paris
Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words
Fight for Life
Firebears - The Rescue Team
Fly High, Fly Guy
Found
GB: Horror Land
Good as Goldie
Goodnight, My Duckling
Heir Apparent
High School Musical - Friends 4Ever?
HM - Nightmare on Hannah Street
HM - True Blue
Hooray for Fly Guy
Hooray for Reading Day
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
I Spy Fun House (software)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (3 pk)
Invasion of the Road Weenies
Itchy, Itchy Chicken Pox
Judy Moody, M.D. The Doctor Is In!
Kickoff
Kingdom Hearts 1
Kingdom Hearts 2
Klutz Build A Book (smaller kit)
Klutz Build A Book (larger kit)
Knuffle Bunny Too
Larue For Mayor: Letters...
Let's Play Soccer
Lily Brown's Paintings
Listen
Little Drummer Mouse
Little Mermaid
Little Women
Littlest Pet Shop: Teacher's Pet
Littlest Pet Shop: Totally Talented Pets
Littlest Pet Shop: Ultimate Handbook Vol 3
Look Around! (10 box)
Luna Bay
M.C. Higgins The Great
Main Street Needle & Thread #2
Main Street Welcome to Camden Falls #1
Malcolm in the Middle #2 - Water Park
Marley: A Dog Like No Other
Marvel Ency - The Avengers
Masterpiece for Bess, A
Mega Wheels
Mouse
MTH: Bilzzard of the Blue Moon
MTH: Dragon of the Red Dawn
MTH: Night of the New Magicians
MTH: Safari Animal (3 pack)
My Big Book of Spanish Words
My Very First Book of Numbers
Narnia (3 pk)
Naruto Posterzine 2
Nick Anderson, N.I. - The Case of the Sneaky Stinger
No Talking
Old Bear
On The Road
Owl Moon
Pack: Bunches of Bunnies
Pack: Dead Dog/Sick Cat
Peak
Pendragon - The Reality Bug
Pinkalicious
Pirates Don't Change Diapers
Planet Earth: Animals of Africa
Pokemon (flip book with tattoos)
Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook
Princess
Princess Academy
Puppy in a Puddle
Rapid Math (video game)
Rapunzel
Redwall
Ripley's Special Edition 2009
Secret Codes for Consoles & Handsets
Seekers: The Quest Begins
Shadows on the Sea
Shout
Side by Side
Skippyjon Jones in Mummy Trouble
Skippyjon Jones in the Dog House
Skippyjon Jones Up & Down
Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep
Smallest Snowman
Spiders
Spiderwick Chronicles
SPNGE: Sudoku Puzzles #3
Spy X The Code
Stink - The Incredible Shrinking Kid
Stravaganza - City of Masks
SW: The Clone Wars
Table Top Football
Teeny, Tiny Mouse
The 39 Clues
The Amulet Book 1
The Cheat
The Dog Best in Show
The Fire Eternal
The Key to Rondo
The Life You Imagine
The Other Side of Truth
The Time Machine
The White Giraffe
Things Hoped For
Tiger Can't Sleep
Time for School, Mouse!
Trading Spaces Boys vs. Girls
Tree for All Seasons, A
True Talents
Two-Minute Mysteries Collection
Video Game Secrets
Wacky Wild Peek A Boo
War Horse
Webster's New World Word Madness
What Janie Found
Who's My Mom
Zoey Deans Talent

The Books Are Here

This afternoon when I returned home from an appointment I was surprised to realized that I had left my garage door open. It turned out to be a good thing, though, because there were 8 big boxes of books from Scholastic Book Fairs inside!

I have begun to open them and check the inventory, and I'm getting excited!

We have Klutz Build-a-book kits; supplies like pencils, erasers, keychains, and bookmarks; and, of course, lots of books! As soon as I finish checking the inventory, I'll post a list of titles.

Tell your friends! Book Fair this Thursday 1-7 & Friday 9-5 at 1718 W. Douglas in Wichita.

Book Fair Times

Thursday, October 9, 1pm - 7pm
Friday, October 10, 9am - 5pm

Spread the word!

1718 W. Douglas, Wichita, KS

Book Fair dates

The book fair will be only Thursday and Friday, October 9th and 10th. A few people responded to the poll that they would come on Saturday afternoon, but I recently learned that we will be in McPherson that day for a 25th college reunion.

The most likely schedule is Thursday afternoon-evening and Friday morning-afternoon (possibly evening, too).

We will have a door-prize drawing for free books and write-on/wipe-off two sided maps (USA on one side, world on the other).

Plan on coming by to see the books!

Book Fair workshop

Cindy and I attended a workshop about putting on a Scholastic book fair. We got some hand-outs, and I got one of the door prizes, Albert Einstein Universal Genius, but other than that it wasn't very helpful. We did get to see some of the new books, which was nice. Most of the people there had done book fairs before, but every once in a while the representative would point out something that was especially helpful for a first-timer to be sure to notice.

Not surprisingly, we were the only homeschoolers there. Many of the people were school librarians or other staff that were book fair chairpersons. I think everyone there was female, which was a little surprising.

The representative had never worked with someone doing a "box fair" (small volume expected), so she couldn't give me any specifics about how it comes or even how many boxes of books to expect. That was disappointing.

I am looking forward to doing the fair, even though this workshop wasn't very helpful. There are some optional activities that look promising, too. The Klutz "Build a book" could be fun, and the "One for Books" fundraiser is more general and easier than I thought. I'll set out the jug and a sign and see if we get any change donations. We get to buy books with the money, and we can keep them for HANCK library or donate them to whomever we want. I'm considering having a drawing or letting the volunteers choose books, depending on how much we get. Also, Scholastic donates books to charity to match the number of dollars that are raised with "One for Books."

The gal did say two things that were helpful at the end when we were talking. "You can't mess it up," and "You'll discover things that you like and things that you'll want to do differently next time." Good points to remember.

Plan on coming to HANCK's Scholastic Book Fair - Th. Oct. 9 through Sat. Oct. 11.
Spread the word!

Book swap - and donations being accepted

If you have any books that you no longer want, Lea is having a book swap in a few weeks. (See HANCK's Calendar for details.) If you have any children's books left after the swap, I would be delighted to accept them for the HANCK Library.

Book Fair date official

The book fair date is now set with Scholastic. Since they schedule fairs M-F for a week, and I want a Friday as the main day, Jill suggested that she schedule us for the week following when I will actually do it so I don't have to pack up right away. She also suggested at least 3 days. (She was not used to a homeschooling mom doing this for a bunch of other homeschoolers, but she was trying to wrap her head around it!)

So the plan is for the books to arrive at my house on Tuesday. I'll look them over (perhaps) and get ready, then we'll set up on Thursday (pending my church being available, which I'm pretty sure it will be). We'll possibly have the book fair open on Thursday October 9 in the afternoon or early evening. The main day will be Friday, October 10. Then, quite likely, we will also be open for a few hours on Saturday.

The book fair will be held at New Covenant United Methodist Church, located at 1718 W. Douglas (which is between Seneca & Meridian). The dates are listed above. Times are yet to be set. Books will be for K-8th grade, with some toddler/prek ones also. Sales will be cash or credit card. If we are out of a particular book, they can be ordered.

Tell all your friends!

Introducing the Hanck Library

I am a homeschooler in the Wichita, Kansas area. I have registered as an educator with Scholastic for the purpose of purchasing books like classrooms, teachers, parents, and students from public and larger private schools do. In order to save on postage and earn points more quickly, I have invited other homeschoolers that I know to order with me. The free books and items purchased with bonus points will be shared with area homeschoolers through the Hanck Library.

Subscribe to my feed or check back for announcements and more information regarding our upcoming Book Fair, which will be on Friday, October 10, 2008.