The Emerson Elementary Parent-Teacher Association recently held it’s annual Scholastic Book Fair. This is a time to buy fiction and nonfiction books or graphic novels … or is it? The fair offers much more than reading material these days. Students can browse boxes of animal posters, colorful pens, and fancy erasers.
Juliette Ignazzi, a fifth-grader, says she spends most of her parent money on books.
¨I buy toys at the book fair as long as it’s the minority of the money that I get,” Ignazzi said. If she buys a toy, it’s generally a pen, a highlighter, or an eraser. “Sometimes it’s like really small handheld toy Mochies or something like that.¨
Some parents agree that as long as most items bought are books, a small novelty item is okay.
¨Yes, my sons do purchase one or two things at the book fair other than books,” Breanne DeCarlo said. She is a fifth grade teacher. “Like I tell my students, I would prefer that they purchase books and stay away from what wind up being toys.¨
Samanya Panda, a sixth-grader, mostly shops the fair for a good read. She found something new this year.
“One of the books that was added was a Wicked book, and I haven’t read it yet, but it looks interesting,” Panda said. She’d like to see more mystery books added to the selection. “I would want them to be added because it’s a popular genre. and lots of people including me like it.”
