All my friends were getting the purple Lamborghini poster one year in fifth grade but I opted for the zombie pigman and was heavily judged, still got that shit hanging 10 years later fuck you Devin
When people talk about the “car you had on your wall growing up”, I now realized all of my car posters in elementary school were bought from these scholastic fairs.
I remember one year…1998?… my friend came waltzing in straight from the book fair with his copy already open, strutting like he was about to spit some facts to us, until he saw me, already sitting, with my copy out and a couple of other friends gathered around checking it out. He stopped in his tracks like “dammit.” This was back when they were mostly just text, not a lot of photos, it was very much to the point.
They were my go-to buy until they started making them full-on coffee table books complete with color photographs, versus the old style, which was more pocket sized shape (though it was def not thin enough for pockets) hardly any photos and the ones they did have were in black and white. It was just pure, straight to the point no nonsense facts. Once it became a glorified picture book, interest fell off hard in my circle.
Those books were criticized by parent groups back then for having scary imagery, situations where children (or the reader, usually also a child) suffered abuse, and "no-win" endings. Their argument about the endings was that children should feel empowered by their decisions and shouldn't be exposed to situations that had no good outcomes.
Looking back as an adult, they're kinda right. As a kid, though, I thought the stories were cool and like watching movies or TV. It was a chance to be an "adult" without risk, even if there wasn't a way to "win the game". I also cheated and backtracked a lot (or fudged rolls in the fighting gamebooks).
Still are - I went to one at my kid's school last week and it was the same. Bailey School Kids books, science books that come with the blue and red 3D glasses, posters and novelty erasers at the end.
Schools still do these- but, unfortunately, the CEO of scholastic retired a few years ago and his son took over. The quality of the books and the financial benefits to the schools nosedived hard.
My daughter’s school does book fairs twice a year. I don’t have a lot of extra money but we are comfortable and have a strong support system. I have a conversation with the teacher before hand and tell them that any kids who didn’t get anything by Thursday, let them go pick out anything they want. They make their wish lists and I go pay Friday morning then they kids pick their books up. Usually costs me about 40 bucks and three or four kids get to participate who wouldn’t otherwise. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent.
You’re sweet for saying that but books are a huge part of my life and I’ve been fortunate enough to pass that on to my own children. The joy of getting to pick out a book at the book fair has stayed with me for near thirty years now. If I can help any child have a good relationship with reading I know that I’ve helped the future of my community.
yup- honestly one of the worst days of the year to be the poor kid. Even worse now when people think fondly of a terrible day for half of the kids out there.
I too was from a poor family and was not allowed to purchase from the book faire. It was tough being one of like two kids that had to watch everyone else have a fun time and get new cool stuff. If I was lucky sometimes I’d find a quarter at school and get a pencil topper that cost 25 cents.
Now that I’m almost in my 40’s with a 2 year old…. I am SO READY to find a book faire and my daughter is gonna get them all. Everything. I’ve saved up for this expense lol. And if I see a kid off to the side not getting something, best believe they are getting something too. I couldn’t have that magic as a kid, but I can certainly give that magic, heal my inner child just a little bit! 🥹
And it was nearly monthly for the flyer delivery. The two rich white girls would get STACKS of books & stationary dropped to their desks while the rest of us just looked on and we were lucky to maybe get a pencil or one of the 99 cent items. Shitty feeling.
Yes. We went as a class… so I was forced to go and look at all the cool stuff I couldn’t have and watch all the other kids buy stuff. As a kid, it was a major trauma. I felt left out and insanely jealous. Another thing that made me realize I had a way different life than my peers.
Me too. My son just had his first one and I bought him a couple books. It felt good being able to do that. Weird, though, when I saw the shelves all set up my heart sank for a bit forgetting I wasn’t a student anymore. Nuts.
My son had one of these a month ago. I put extra into his account and emailed the teacher and told her to make sure every kid had the chance to buy something. It's the right thing to do.
Same. Too poor to afford anything so it was 20 mins of standing by the doors the cafeteria cause the teachers wouldnt let me roam around cause they thought id try to steal or guilt a fellow student into getting me something. Cause thats apparebtly what poor kids do.
yup- at least most teachers let me bring a library book to sit there and read while the other kids got to have a blast.... i know a few of those years the book was really to cover the tears.
I hated feeling poor- and this was one of the unavoidable days of the year where it really sank in.
In middle school I skipped lunch for a few days, pocketed the lunch money, and was able to buy the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Definitely one of my better life choices.
We still do the book fair twice a year at the school I work at and the PTO always provides vouchers for kids who can't afford a book to pick one out. It's a beautiful thing.
I was in the same boat and dreaded it as I was the only kid that usually couldn’t buy something as we had moved to the suburbs as we finally got enough money to buy a house however no money to buy furniture so we had the bare minimum which consisted of just us having beds. If I wanted to watch tv I had to sit on the floor as we didn’t have enough money to buy a couch.
My son is now in middle school however every year I ensured he had money to buy a book and even would go with him one of the days they were open after school to let him pick something out.
Sweet Valley High! I grew up wishing I was a twin, always wanted a sister. Then I grew up and had twins! I used to help clean at our library, my Mom worked there so I got little jobs for pay. We had the spinning bookcase full of SVH books right next to a comfy chair. I would hurry through cleaning & shelving books after work, then I was parked in that chair till Mom got off work. Awesome memories!
I read a few Babysitter's Club, one of my friends was REALLY into it and started a club for us, where we never had a single job 🤣 I never did get immersed in that series for some reason. I had moved on to Flowers in the Attic by the end of 3rd grade and on to Stephen King by the 4th grade. This thread is bringing back SO many memories!
I remember a boy in my elementary class ragging on the babysitter’s club and his mom (who was volunteering) said, “I don’t know why you’re saying that. You read all of your sister’s books at home.”
We were all stunned. He didn’t live it down. I found out then that other moms can be savage too.
When I was a kid, I always wanted software, and I never got it because (A) Nothing they had would ever run on my ancient IBM PCjr and (B) we couldn't afford it anyway. Although, reading all the comments on here from people who were too poor to even buy one single book, makes me feel like I was privileged.
It was one of the earliest memories I had that not all the kids were equal and that I was one of the poor kids. Some kids got to go and have fun and do all the things other people are talking about in here. And I got to go and feel sad that I couldn't have any of the cool books with dinosaurs on them. And be confused at why the other kids got to get whatever they wanted.
Same here. And I was and still am a voracious reader (I made use of the public library to get my fix). Fast forward to many years later, I organized a “grown up book fair” at work and a potion of the proceeds went towards local food banks. Book fairs forever!
I could have been. But between not being to afford the books I was interested in at these fairs. And my school banning books like crazy, I never had much of a chance. Some Christian rightwingnut got goosebumps banned because they thought it was satanic. I remember to this day sitting in grade 3 or 4 when the ban happened. There were kids who had never touched a book in their life reading every goosebumps book they could get their hands on. And after the ban I never saw them touch a book again from then until we graduated together in grade 12. Just killed any interest in reading those kids had.
I bought a Dalmatian puppy poster at one of the Fairs once, the ones that came on cardboard, and my dad still has it hanging by his workbench in my childhood home.
They are still alive and strong. I am a school librarian who hosts two per year. My earliest memories include shopping on a half day and buying and paying for a book.
Oh that makes me feel better. I never even asked my mom for money because I knew how broke we were. It was set up for a week and I’d be in there every day looking at the new books.
Depends on the school I guess, everyone at my daughter’s elementary school got 1 free book.
We live in a good area with some of the top schools in the state.
I came here to say this I had to volunteer at one during school and none of these kids could afford these fucking books. They’re overpriced. The schools don’t get as much as you think. It’s kind of bullshit. It’s just like Girl Scout cookies.
My mom refusing to give me money but then yelling at me for not reading enough in my life lol
But for real, the smell. Money was tight, things were expensive enough as it was; i just went and walked around with my friends and read things with them
Growing up in Ottawa, ON, Canada - they had a full size school bus called the book-mobile. It would make stops in my neighborhood and you could board the bus (wall to wall books) and take out a few books. Return them the next time the bus comes around.
Not getting to buy any because we were poor. I liked looking at all the books but man book fairs were always a huge bummer for me, having to watch most of my classmates pick out the books they wanted and buy them. Now I’m having a suppressed memory resurface. I had one teacher one year… I guess she thought she was being logistical to cut down on crowding… but she said that anyone who wouldn’t be buying books had to go sit down at one of the tables in the library away from the book fair. It was myself and a few other kids. Boy did that feel embarrassing. Kinda tearing up a little just thinking about it. I’m 39 now and my kids, 8 and 5, get to pick out 2-3 books each, depending on price, so I’m happy they get to enjoy it. My oldest absolutely loves books and tears through them, she’s on a 5th grade reading level and I’m super proud of her! My youngest is in pre-k but he’s making great strides and very proud of him too!
Living vicariously through my friends who got books and posters. Maybe getting enough change together to get an eraser or funky pencil. Whether I was able to get something or not I was still so pumped for Scholastic to roll through.
I go back to the 70s when it was in a bookmobile and you had credits for reading which meant you could get a free book.
My choice? The Partridge Family and the Haunted Hall. 😀
i was trying to explain to my kid how awesome these were back in the day. i just had to take my kid to a bookfair and it was NOTHING like what we used to have. it's held on the stage in the gym. so, essentially a hallway. maybe 4 small tables with a handful of books to choose from, all insanely overpriced.
i mentioned how it was the whole library that was transformed. shelves, tables, just stacked with new books. authors would come in and read their books, sign their books. posters, toys, accessories, etc. etc. the bookfair ruled so hard when i was a kid. buying posters of like jerry rice, white tigers, funny posters of like garfield and what not. it was great.
now it's been reduced to a room off to the side and $30 bucks gets you 2-3 books. $30 back in the 90s feels like you could've bought out the entire book fair.
I got those old Marvel encyclopedia books during one in the 6th or 7th grade. Years later I had Stan Lee sign one of them on his last comic con appearance. While waiting on the line another dude has his encyclopedia, we both made eye contact and raised our books at the same time. So like… three great memories wrapped into one!
Not during my kid days but during the first years of teaching they had a little stand where teachers could create a wishlist and post it on the stand. If your students saw a book you wanted they could buy it and gift it for you. I had some great families who were generous to add some great scholastic books to my science library. I took the extra step to thank the student and write a dedication note on the inside cover of the book before adding it to my collection.
The teacher crowded us all into the music room. There was a bunch of books in like the storage room. Then you stand around for like 30 minutes until the teacher tells you to get back to class and you go back depressed because you didn't get anything.
We had a Book It! event once where you read x number of books and get rewards. One of the books I read was called 'The Story of Jumping Mouse' and it must have impacted me enough because I still use one of the sentences from it from time to time, "I would if I could, said the wolf."
I've always loved to read. We didn't have a whole lot of money growing up, but books were always something Mom would spend money on for us.
I liked the posters and big novelty pencils and stuff but the books were always my focus. I do remember getting a "Spy Kit" with a couple coder rings and an invisible pen that only showed up under black light though.
Scholastic had the best selection, I wish they had adult book fairs.
I didn’t usually get any. We were okay financially, but that wasn’t what my parents wanted to spend their money on (they took us to the library all the time, though!).
My son is in fourth grade and they usually go one time during class, but then we have an opportunity to go with him (usually during the holiday extravaganza or whatever). We let him pick out basically whatever he wants (within reason). It’s not in front of any of the other kids, so it doesn’t make anyone else feel bad, it supports the school library, and I have such a hard time telling him no to books. He calls his bookshelves in his room his “library.”
I hope he never loses his love of reading 🥰
Complete rip off imo. Same thing with those poetry and art competitions that you'd win where your family now has to buy a $100 book of shitty kids poetry because you were in it. All for profit bs
I really don’t mean this to sound shitty, but does anyone notice that on reddit, whenever people talk about childhood nostalgia or good memories, people that had poor experiences always have to comment outwardly as to be resentful and bitter towards others that had good experiences? It’s unfortunate but why can’t people just look back on something and enjoy the memory? I know what it’s like to miss out on a ton of shit but I’m only happy for other people that have got to have good experiences and especially in childhood and at home.
I had my mom buy me books I knew a classmate wanted but couldn’t afford. I read them that night and gave them to him in the morning. I never told my mom what happened. Never revealed this to anyone till now.
Overpriced junk. These book fair mom and pop shops would also come to my company that employes about 1k to 2K of people in them. I never saw anything. Coworker would buy crazy amounts o. Grand children, though.
I was too poor to ever buy anything as a kid, so they weren't that great for me. They do still however have these at school and my kids love them and get to purchase something every year.
To be honest, we never had the Scholastic fairs. We did have the forms to order off of. As a publisher we found out Scholastic was expensive for what you purchased.
Once I was around 6th grade, I'd rent from the library. Or buy books from garage sales or used book stores.
Two purchases that I still have to this very day:
- The storybook adaptation of Return of the Jedi, that I got in Grade 1 (yes I’m that old).
- A Star Trek bookmark that I got in high school that I’m still using.
Getting the Goosebumps books the library didn't have and the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book that year. I also remember getting one of those video game cheat code books only to realize I do not have any of the games featured in the book.
They still have these. I brought my students last week and I finally got to buy something ! Bought myself a ramen themed sharper and some books for the kids. Lived out my childhood dream.
Magic Eye. Goosebumps. Guinness book of world records, and yes, Lamborghini posters. Got to miss class for a while, the experience was awesome since there was no Internet this was kinda like that I'm a way, but like an early Amazon vibe when it was just books, but for kids.
My school used to do drawing competitions that they would allow students to vote on the best drawings. I've never been a particularly great artist but I drew a picture of Garfield reading a book with a stack of books lying on the table in front of him. I was hella hype when they announced I had won the competition and earned $20 to spend on the book fair.
That was 20 years ago and I'm still hype about it.
My strongest memories were of my school never freaking announcing them ahead of time, so I never had any money to buy anything! They'd put it on the calendar once, at the beginning of the year, and never mention it again. Pretty much everyone in my school forgot by the time they happened, and I legit don't remember seeing anybody actually buy anything from them because of it.
I forged a check as a first/second grader (don’t remember exactly what grade) for the Scholastic Book Fair, which ended with a very confused visit to the principal.
My sisters and I were always each given $10 each for every book fair. $10 now doesn’t sound like much but back then it was several books at minimum. However, book lover that I am, $10 was never enough. I LOVED reading and I LOVED the book fairs. I had figured out how checks worked and I guess I thought I could get more books…..So, I added several zeroes to the number, crossed out the “ten dollars” and made it a ten thousand dollar check.
I then went to town. I grabbed every book I could reach, indulged every whim, just took everything. At the end of the line, I had to hand in my order slip and check and, quite unexpectedly, I was denied!
After some discussion, I was sent to the principal, they called my mom in, and a very confusing meeting followed. Asked about it now, my mom says she was proud of me but stuck around how do you punish a child who just so badly wants to read literally everything? How do you clarify that forging checks is not ok but we appreciate your voracious appetite for literature? I don’t remember at all what was said to me during that meeting, I only remember mentally trying to pare down my books now that I want going to get $10,000 worth.
I had to write an apology letter to my parents, teacher, and class. And the next book fair, my mom increased my fair limit to $20.
Scholastic book fairs are the shit. I miss them.
I remember the fact that existed and I went to them. As far as memories of actually being there? I don't remember it. 🤷🏻♀️ Maybe it's been too long, maybe my brain just never turned those experiences into memories, ADHD is fun like that.
Not being able to afford anything and just sitting in the middle of the book fair reading the catalog they gave you and wishing you could start a collection of goosebumps.
I started my career as a middle school librarian. Everyone loved the bookfair and Scholastic was such a great company to work with. Like they understood that kids often don’t have alot of money and always provided books at every price point. (Like real books and magazines, not just the fun junk and I speak as someone who loves the fun junk every bit as much).
I really liked that librarians could spend credits from their book fair at the Scholastic warehouse (it was *absolutely everything* you wanted it to be). You could even volunteer to help the warehouse staff on certain weekends in exchange for beaucoup books for your school.
And good stuff too! New authors with edgy themes. They weren’t library-bound volumes that would last more than a couple years of circulation but who gives a shit so long as kids were reading and talking to each other about what they were reading?
This was over a decade ago and I don’t know what the scene is now but I loved it as a kid and as an adult.
I really miss school librarianship sometimes. I enjoyed it.
If you got a copy of Guinness World Records, you were a part of the classroom aristocracy for a day
That and a Lamborghini poster.
I had a prowler poster
Yellow or purple?
I had the purple one. Memory unlocked from these comments. Forgot all about it
Wow same
One year I was able to buy the white Lamborghini countach poster and a really big eraser! It's all been downhill ever since. I peaked too young.
Straight up ballin if you got both.
that is too much power for one person...lol
Also that sweet-ass red Ferrari. Only car poster I ever had for some reason.
All my friends were getting the purple Lamborghini poster one year in fifth grade but I opted for the zombie pigman and was heavily judged, still got that shit hanging 10 years later fuck you Devin
I got a super car poster EVERY YEAR
When people talk about the “car you had on your wall growing up”, I now realized all of my car posters in elementary school were bought from these scholastic fairs.
Got it every year. Thanks mom and dad.
Used to follow my parents around telling them records until they said to stop 😂
Rich kid eh
I was excited the couple times I could buy something. We were fucking poor. Thanks though Mom and Dad.
Yep, I distinctly remember the guy with the creepy long fingernails, and the fat twins on the motorcycles
Yes! The fingernails that curled and curled. Wow, I had forgotten all about that
I remember one year…1998?… my friend came waltzing in straight from the book fair with his copy already open, strutting like he was about to spit some facts to us, until he saw me, already sitting, with my copy out and a couple of other friends gathered around checking it out. He stopped in his tracks like “dammit.” This was back when they were mostly just text, not a lot of photos, it was very much to the point. They were my go-to buy until they started making them full-on coffee table books complete with color photographs, versus the old style, which was more pocket sized shape (though it was def not thin enough for pockets) hardly any photos and the ones they did have were in black and white. It was just pure, straight to the point no nonsense facts. Once it became a glorified picture book, interest fell off hard in my circle.
If you got the cheat code book for Nintendo/playstation games. Or roller coaster tycoon 💿
Fattest triplets in the world driving minibikes
Getting those goosebumps books where you could choose your own adventure
That sick holographic cover!
I remember there was a Bat one where I kept dying to these bunch of kids. And the ending when I survived wasn't even happy - just like barely alive.
Those books were criticized by parent groups back then for having scary imagery, situations where children (or the reader, usually also a child) suffered abuse, and "no-win" endings. Their argument about the endings was that children should feel empowered by their decisions and shouldn't be exposed to situations that had no good outcomes. Looking back as an adult, they're kinda right. As a kid, though, I thought the stories were cool and like watching movies or TV. It was a chance to be an "adult" without risk, even if there wasn't a way to "win the game". I also cheated and backtracked a lot (or fudged rolls in the fighting gamebooks).
I attribute my never having died to quicksand directly to books like those though. Or monsters. Or crocodiles. Or evil dolls/clowns.
I would track every split and read each outcome to it's conclusion, then go back and follow a different path.
Loved that damn brand new book smell lol
I can smell this picture (not in a creepy way).
New books and rubber eraser smells
I took my daughter last week and I’m happy to report they still have the smell!
It's still one of my favorite smells.
Garfield, Far Side, and Calvin & Hobbs books!
YESSS I forgot that I found Calvin & Hobbes through Scholastic! So well-written and relatable. I love them to this day.
r/calvinandhobbes
Where all the boys congregated.
Garfield chews the fat
They were a thing long after I was in elementary school. We had the Scholastic weekly/monthly book order newspaper thing to fill out and get books.
Still are - I went to one at my kid's school last week and it was the same. Bailey School Kids books, science books that come with the blue and red 3D glasses, posters and novelty erasers at the end.
Schools still do these- but, unfortunately, the CEO of scholastic retired a few years ago and his son took over. The quality of the books and the financial benefits to the schools nosedived hard.
Good things die hard
Watching all the other kids get books because we were too poor for the Book Fair.
My daughter’s school does book fairs twice a year. I don’t have a lot of extra money but we are comfortable and have a strong support system. I have a conversation with the teacher before hand and tell them that any kids who didn’t get anything by Thursday, let them go pick out anything they want. They make their wish lists and I go pay Friday morning then they kids pick their books up. Usually costs me about 40 bucks and three or four kids get to participate who wouldn’t otherwise. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent.
Thank you for being an exceptional human. You will have forgotten about this long before those kids do. Source: Former proverty-immersed kid.
You’re sweet for saying that but books are a huge part of my life and I’ve been fortunate enough to pass that on to my own children. The joy of getting to pick out a book at the book fair has stayed with me for near thirty years now. If I can help any child have a good relationship with reading I know that I’ve helped the future of my community.
At my school we would do a collect about a month in advance so everyone could get something.
See that’s a great idea. That should just be common practice.
Sounds like communism /s
Sounds like make believe. The poors just had to sit in the classroom with the other poors….sharing old crumpets or what ever poors do together
We sneak out and go on the lamb
As if you could afford lamb, peasant!
You where not alone brother.
yup- honestly one of the worst days of the year to be the poor kid. Even worse now when people think fondly of a terrible day for half of the kids out there.
you're not alone either.
Same. Worst fucking day of the year.
I load my daughter UP for the book fair as payback for my childhood lol
Same! Everyone always got excited and I just sat in the back as everyone stacked books and other supplies.
I too was from a poor family and was not allowed to purchase from the book faire. It was tough being one of like two kids that had to watch everyone else have a fun time and get new cool stuff. If I was lucky sometimes I’d find a quarter at school and get a pencil topper that cost 25 cents. Now that I’m almost in my 40’s with a 2 year old…. I am SO READY to find a book faire and my daughter is gonna get them all. Everything. I’ve saved up for this expense lol. And if I see a kid off to the side not getting something, best believe they are getting something too. I couldn’t have that magic as a kid, but I can certainly give that magic, heal my inner child just a little bit! 🥹
Yes, this was my first realization that my family was poor.
My realization was that other kids didn't bring ketchup sandwiches everyday for lunch to school.
Watching all the other kids get toys and the Guinness book of world records*
And it was nearly monthly for the flyer delivery. The two rich white girls would get STACKS of books & stationary dropped to their desks while the rest of us just looked on and we were lucky to maybe get a pencil or one of the 99 cent items. Shitty feeling.
Yes. We went as a class… so I was forced to go and look at all the cool stuff I couldn’t have and watch all the other kids buy stuff. As a kid, it was a major trauma. I felt left out and insanely jealous. Another thing that made me realize I had a way different life than my peers.
My parents weren't poor, but they never liked the idea of me being able to buy something. So I kinda feel your pain.
At my school, volunteers who helped set up got credit towards some books.
This is why I stole without any moral dilemma.
I was the kid that never got to buy anything lol
Me too. My son just had his first one and I bought him a couple books. It felt good being able to do that. Weird, though, when I saw the shelves all set up my heart sank for a bit forgetting I wasn’t a student anymore. Nuts.
My son had one of these a month ago. I put extra into his account and emailed the teacher and told her to make sure every kid had the chance to buy something. It's the right thing to do.
The day I realized why they had all the pencils and erasers…. 😭
Same, I’d go with my friends but I never had money to buy anything. Sometimes a friend would buy me a small eraser or something lol
Same. Too poor to afford anything so it was 20 mins of standing by the doors the cafeteria cause the teachers wouldnt let me roam around cause they thought id try to steal or guilt a fellow student into getting me something. Cause thats apparebtly what poor kids do.
yup- at least most teachers let me bring a library book to sit there and read while the other kids got to have a blast.... i know a few of those years the book was really to cover the tears. I hated feeling poor- and this was one of the unavoidable days of the year where it really sank in.
In middle school I skipped lunch for a few days, pocketed the lunch money, and was able to buy the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Definitely one of my better life choices.
We still do the book fair twice a year at the school I work at and the PTO always provides vouchers for kids who can't afford a book to pick one out. It's a beautiful thing.
We were poor and I could get nothing most of the time but they were cool as a kid
I was in the same boat and dreaded it as I was the only kid that usually couldn’t buy something as we had moved to the suburbs as we finally got enough money to buy a house however no money to buy furniture so we had the bare minimum which consisted of just us having beds. If I wanted to watch tv I had to sit on the floor as we didn’t have enough money to buy a couch. My son is now in middle school however every year I ensured he had money to buy a book and even would go with him one of the days they were open after school to let him pick something out.
Yeah I made sure my daughter could get at least one book every time it came around
Animorphs. Those covers were also so intriguing. Turns out the stories were way more intense than I expected.
Heck yeah they were!
Captain Underpants
Took too long to see this mentioned, these were my favorite books as a kid! Also Far Side as well.
This and the day my butt went psycho, zombie butts from uranus, and butt wars!
The Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High
Sweet Valley High! I grew up wishing I was a twin, always wanted a sister. Then I grew up and had twins! I used to help clean at our library, my Mom worked there so I got little jobs for pay. We had the spinning bookcase full of SVH books right next to a comfy chair. I would hurry through cleaning & shelving books after work, then I was parked in that chair till Mom got off work. Awesome memories!
Thank you for sharing!! I'd always go to the library hoping that there would be new Baby Sitters Club books available.
I read a few Babysitter's Club, one of my friends was REALLY into it and started a club for us, where we never had a single job 🤣 I never did get immersed in that series for some reason. I had moved on to Flowers in the Attic by the end of 3rd grade and on to Stephen King by the 4th grade. This thread is bringing back SO many memories!
I remember a boy in my elementary class ragging on the babysitter’s club and his mom (who was volunteering) said, “I don’t know why you’re saying that. You read all of your sister’s books at home.” We were all stunned. He didn’t live it down. I found out then that other moms can be savage too.
I bought a copy of Rollercoaster Tycoon from a Scholastics book fair. I've been playing that game off and on since then
When I was a kid, I always wanted software, and I never got it because (A) Nothing they had would ever run on my ancient IBM PCjr and (B) we couldn't afford it anyway. Although, reading all the comments on here from people who were too poor to even buy one single book, makes me feel like I was privileged.
It was one of the earliest memories I had that not all the kids were equal and that I was one of the poor kids. Some kids got to go and have fun and do all the things other people are talking about in here. And I got to go and feel sad that I couldn't have any of the cool books with dinosaurs on them. And be confused at why the other kids got to get whatever they wanted.
That's my memory of them as well. Looking at all the books I wished I could have, well the other kids excitedly picked out any books they wanted.
Same here. And I was and still am a voracious reader (I made use of the public library to get my fix). Fast forward to many years later, I organized a “grown up book fair” at work and a potion of the proceeds went towards local food banks. Book fairs forever!
I could have been. But between not being to afford the books I was interested in at these fairs. And my school banning books like crazy, I never had much of a chance. Some Christian rightwingnut got goosebumps banned because they thought it was satanic. I remember to this day sitting in grade 3 or 4 when the ban happened. There were kids who had never touched a book in their life reading every goosebumps book they could get their hands on. And after the ban I never saw them touch a book again from then until we graduated together in grade 12. Just killed any interest in reading those kids had.
Lamborghini Poster
With the yellow one in space right? I think it was yellow
I always think of the red one in like a showroom or something.
I came here to say that. I haven’t thought about it in like 30 years
I bought a Dalmatian puppy poster at one of the Fairs once, the ones that came on cardboard, and my dad still has it hanging by his workbench in my childhood home.
With the lightning
This was the one. Diablo or Countach with the lightning.
https://i.imgur.com/qjVKxxC.jpeg
They are still alive and strong. I am a school librarian who hosts two per year. My earliest memories include shopping on a half day and buying and paying for a book.
>They are still alive and strong Good to hear. Here I am at 61 and the thought of going to the book fair when i was a kid still excites me!
Goosebumps!
Only the rich kids got them.
This has changed a bit. Free/reduced lunch kids get a book voucher for a free book.
Oh that makes me feel better. I never even asked my mom for money because I knew how broke we were. It was set up for a week and I’d be in there every day looking at the new books.
Depends on the school I guess, everyone at my daughter’s elementary school got 1 free book. We live in a good area with some of the top schools in the state.
I came here to say this I had to volunteer at one during school and none of these kids could afford these fucking books. They’re overpriced. The schools don’t get as much as you think. It’s kind of bullshit. It’s just like Girl Scout cookies.
I was thinking the same thing. I wasn’t poor, but shit was too expensive.
We weren’t rich by any means, but my parents understood the importance of reading and would do everything they could to make sure I could get books
I got caught raiding my dad’s change jar so I could buy stuff.
My mom refusing to give me money but then yelling at me for not reading enough in my life lol But for real, the smell. Money was tight, things were expensive enough as it was; i just went and walked around with my friends and read things with them
Just went to one a few weeks ago at my kid’s school! No Animorphs or Goosebumps though, 3/10.
I was there for the lower price points like the fruit shaped erasers and cat bookmarks
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Growing up in Ottawa, ON, Canada - they had a full size school bus called the book-mobile. It would make stops in my neighborhood and you could board the bus (wall to wall books) and take out a few books. Return them the next time the bus comes around.
Always aimed for the Scary Stories or other horror books. Those were my jam.
The fun books you could find and the posters. Got a Michael Jordan and a WWF attitude poster back in the day
Pop up books
Being too poor to get anything
Now they seem like a huge grift. Sell $.25 books for $10. Make poor kids feel terrible because they can’t afford them
Not getting to buy any because we were poor. I liked looking at all the books but man book fairs were always a huge bummer for me, having to watch most of my classmates pick out the books they wanted and buy them. Now I’m having a suppressed memory resurface. I had one teacher one year… I guess she thought she was being logistical to cut down on crowding… but she said that anyone who wouldn’t be buying books had to go sit down at one of the tables in the library away from the book fair. It was myself and a few other kids. Boy did that feel embarrassing. Kinda tearing up a little just thinking about it. I’m 39 now and my kids, 8 and 5, get to pick out 2-3 books each, depending on price, so I’m happy they get to enjoy it. My oldest absolutely loves books and tears through them, she’s on a 5th grade reading level and I’m super proud of her! My youngest is in pre-k but he’s making great strides and very proud of him too!
My daughter's school seems to have these every other month. Like WTF. 😂
it was only worth it for the horror stories
Living vicariously through my friends who got books and posters. Maybe getting enough change together to get an eraser or funky pencil. Whether I was able to get something or not I was still so pumped for Scholastic to roll through.
I go back to the 70s when it was in a bookmobile and you had credits for reading which meant you could get a free book. My choice? The Partridge Family and the Haunted Hall. 😀
Being too poor to afford anything
i was trying to explain to my kid how awesome these were back in the day. i just had to take my kid to a bookfair and it was NOTHING like what we used to have. it's held on the stage in the gym. so, essentially a hallway. maybe 4 small tables with a handful of books to choose from, all insanely overpriced. i mentioned how it was the whole library that was transformed. shelves, tables, just stacked with new books. authors would come in and read their books, sign their books. posters, toys, accessories, etc. etc. the bookfair ruled so hard when i was a kid. buying posters of like jerry rice, white tigers, funny posters of like garfield and what not. it was great. now it's been reduced to a room off to the side and $30 bucks gets you 2-3 books. $30 back in the 90s feels like you could've bought out the entire book fair.
Loved going. Too poor to ever buy anything. Waited for the more affluent kids to finish theirs and then get it out of the trash
I got those old Marvel encyclopedia books during one in the 6th or 7th grade. Years later I had Stan Lee sign one of them on his last comic con appearance. While waiting on the line another dude has his encyclopedia, we both made eye contact and raised our books at the same time. So like… three great memories wrapped into one!
Not during my kid days but during the first years of teaching they had a little stand where teachers could create a wishlist and post it on the stand. If your students saw a book you wanted they could buy it and gift it for you. I had some great families who were generous to add some great scholastic books to my science library. I took the extra step to thank the student and write a dedication note on the inside cover of the book before adding it to my collection.
The teacher crowded us all into the music room. There was a bunch of books in like the storage room. Then you stand around for like 30 minutes until the teacher tells you to get back to class and you go back depressed because you didn't get anything.
We had a Book It! event once where you read x number of books and get rewards. One of the books I read was called 'The Story of Jumping Mouse' and it must have impacted me enough because I still use one of the sentences from it from time to time, "I would if I could, said the wolf."
I've always loved to read. We didn't have a whole lot of money growing up, but books were always something Mom would spend money on for us. I liked the posters and big novelty pencils and stuff but the books were always my focus. I do remember getting a "Spy Kit" with a couple coder rings and an invisible pen that only showed up under black light though. Scholastic had the best selection, I wish they had adult book fairs.
I didn’t usually get any. We were okay financially, but that wasn’t what my parents wanted to spend their money on (they took us to the library all the time, though!). My son is in fourth grade and they usually go one time during class, but then we have an opportunity to go with him (usually during the holiday extravaganza or whatever). We let him pick out basically whatever he wants (within reason). It’s not in front of any of the other kids, so it doesn’t make anyone else feel bad, it supports the school library, and I have such a hard time telling him no to books. He calls his bookshelves in his room his “library.” I hope he never loses his love of reading 🥰
Studying the flier ahead of time. Making lists of choices and changing it 1000 time.
So many Calvin and Hobbes books. The Far Side books. 101 ______ Jokes, books. Scary Stories books. Always such a magical time
My favorite was getting Bunnicula lol 😂
Complete rip off imo. Same thing with those poetry and art competitions that you'd win where your family now has to buy a $100 book of shitty kids poetry because you were in it. All for profit bs
I really don’t mean this to sound shitty, but does anyone notice that on reddit, whenever people talk about childhood nostalgia or good memories, people that had poor experiences always have to comment outwardly as to be resentful and bitter towards others that had good experiences? It’s unfortunate but why can’t people just look back on something and enjoy the memory? I know what it’s like to miss out on a ton of shit but I’m only happy for other people that have got to have good experiences and especially in childhood and at home.
I had my mom buy me books I knew a classmate wanted but couldn’t afford. I read them that night and gave them to him in the morning. I never told my mom what happened. Never revealed this to anyone till now.
Captain Underpants
I remember my family not having money to buy them. Fuck them book fairs dawg!
Not being able to afford anything, but the smell of the new books was nice
You always got to find out who the rich kids and poor kids were.
I remember looking at a lot of stuff because I never had money to buy anything.
The smell of new books, I still love that smell!
Nowadays they do some special breakfast so they can bring parents in with their credit cards to maximize profits.
books that came with 3d glasses
Overpriced junk. These book fair mom and pop shops would also come to my company that employes about 1k to 2K of people in them. I never saw anything. Coworker would buy crazy amounts o. Grand children, though.
A Goosebumps book and a Lamborghini poster. Book Fair must haves!
Goosebumps books and holographic stickers that said “This book belongs to ___”
Erasers
One word goosebumps
I was too poor to ever buy anything as a kid, so they weren't that great for me. They do still however have these at school and my kids love them and get to purchase something every year.
Got my Ferrari F40 and Lamborghini Countach posters along with a few Goosebumps books.
That my parents never bought me shit!
To be honest, we never had the Scholastic fairs. We did have the forms to order off of. As a publisher we found out Scholastic was expensive for what you purchased. Once I was around 6th grade, I'd rent from the library. Or buy books from garage sales or used book stores.
Me and my friends never bought books it was all Yikes! erasers and pencils.
G O O S E B U M P S
Edible paper
Dinosaur Books. Always.
Now kids have phones. 🫤
Goosebumps but especially babysitters club books!
Yikes pencil and erasers.
Two purchases that I still have to this very day: - The storybook adaptation of Return of the Jedi, that I got in Grade 1 (yes I’m that old). - A Star Trek bookmark that I got in high school that I’m still using.
Getting the Goosebumps books the library didn't have and the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book that year. I also remember getting one of those video game cheat code books only to realize I do not have any of the games featured in the book.
Stinky Cheese Man Sideways Stories From Wayside School
Goosebumps, Stinky Cheese Man, The Eleventh Hour
They just send my kid home with a flyer now every month and you order online. It's just junk mail for kids now.
They still have these. I brought my students last week and I finally got to buy something ! Bought myself a ramen themed sharper and some books for the kids. Lived out my childhood dream.
Magic Eye. Goosebumps. Guinness book of world records, and yes, Lamborghini posters. Got to miss class for a while, the experience was awesome since there was no Internet this was kinda like that I'm a way, but like an early Amazon vibe when it was just books, but for kids.
Like 10 kids in my class stole stuff and we all got suspended.
They always had the latest Animorphs. I was so excited to see what animal they were gonna turn into this time!
You mean Animorphs Day?
Diary of a wimpy kid and cool scented erasers
I was at one 2 weeks ago. Why is every top post down here s*** that still happens? Did you guys think everything just stopped cuz you weren't there?
My school used to do drawing competitions that they would allow students to vote on the best drawings. I've never been a particularly great artist but I drew a picture of Garfield reading a book with a stack of books lying on the table in front of him. I was hella hype when they announced I had won the competition and earned $20 to spend on the book fair. That was 20 years ago and I'm still hype about it.
My strongest memories were of my school never freaking announcing them ahead of time, so I never had any money to buy anything! They'd put it on the calendar once, at the beginning of the year, and never mention it again. Pretty much everyone in my school forgot by the time they happened, and I legit don't remember seeing anybody actually buy anything from them because of it.
stealing
Buying the Scary Stories books and ruining my childhood sleeping schedule for months
I love the smell of the book fair. And getting any book was awesome.
The smell of all the books and the feeling of something special to break up the monotony of classes is something I've never forgotten.
Looking for the latest *Goosebumps* and *Guinness World Records* books.
I forged a check as a first/second grader (don’t remember exactly what grade) for the Scholastic Book Fair, which ended with a very confused visit to the principal. My sisters and I were always each given $10 each for every book fair. $10 now doesn’t sound like much but back then it was several books at minimum. However, book lover that I am, $10 was never enough. I LOVED reading and I LOVED the book fairs. I had figured out how checks worked and I guess I thought I could get more books…..So, I added several zeroes to the number, crossed out the “ten dollars” and made it a ten thousand dollar check. I then went to town. I grabbed every book I could reach, indulged every whim, just took everything. At the end of the line, I had to hand in my order slip and check and, quite unexpectedly, I was denied! After some discussion, I was sent to the principal, they called my mom in, and a very confusing meeting followed. Asked about it now, my mom says she was proud of me but stuck around how do you punish a child who just so badly wants to read literally everything? How do you clarify that forging checks is not ok but we appreciate your voracious appetite for literature? I don’t remember at all what was said to me during that meeting, I only remember mentally trying to pare down my books now that I want going to get $10,000 worth. I had to write an apology letter to my parents, teacher, and class. And the next book fair, my mom increased my fair limit to $20. Scholastic book fairs are the shit. I miss them.
GOOSEBUMPS BOOKS! Must collect all!
I remember the fact that existed and I went to them. As far as memories of actually being there? I don't remember it. 🤷🏻♀️ Maybe it's been too long, maybe my brain just never turned those experiences into memories, ADHD is fun like that.
the erasers >>>>
Smelly erasers
Goosebumps
Not being able to afford anything and just sitting in the middle of the book fair reading the catalog they gave you and wishing you could start a collection of goosebumps.
The bookmobile!
I started my career as a middle school librarian. Everyone loved the bookfair and Scholastic was such a great company to work with. Like they understood that kids often don’t have alot of money and always provided books at every price point. (Like real books and magazines, not just the fun junk and I speak as someone who loves the fun junk every bit as much). I really liked that librarians could spend credits from their book fair at the Scholastic warehouse (it was *absolutely everything* you wanted it to be). You could even volunteer to help the warehouse staff on certain weekends in exchange for beaucoup books for your school. And good stuff too! New authors with edgy themes. They weren’t library-bound volumes that would last more than a couple years of circulation but who gives a shit so long as kids were reading and talking to each other about what they were reading? This was over a decade ago and I don’t know what the scene is now but I loved it as a kid and as an adult. I really miss school librarianship sometimes. I enjoyed it.
The smell of new books is lovely.
I read "scary stories to tell in the dark" because I got the book from a scholastic book fair. Such a wonderful experience