A book fair drew hundreds of students and their parents — in tandem with parent-teacher conferences — last week at Lake Ripley Elementary School.
Ripley has hosted book fair for many years, to provide students, teachers, and parents with access to thousands of affordable books and educational products, according to the company website.
Scholastic Book Fairs, which sponsored the local event, generates more than $200 million and educational resources for schools around the world, according to its website. Twenty-five percent of all the sales go toward school activities such as field trips, celebratory events and free book giveaways, said Kay Sandin, media specialist at Lake Ripley Elementary School, which raises roughly $1,500 annually from the book fair.
“What I really like about the book fair is watching the kids and the kids talking about the books together,” Sandin said. “If I just stand back and watch them comparing what the story looks like … that’s why I do it.”
Before the book fair, Lake Ripley hosted a parent night, which involved conversation — over some pizza — about book topics parents can discuss with their kids at home, Principal Chris Olson said.
“Kids were there for about an hour,” he said, “and then from there, if they came, they were given a golden ticket that they could use at our book fair. So they could get a reduced price on a book with their golden ticket for coming to the parent event. They’re getting immersed into more reading, and by coming to the parent event, they get a ticket to get more books to do more reading.”
Aside from books, the event included Poké Ball, Star Wars stickers, pens, cherry twist candy, posters, art accessories, and more.
As for the posters, students entered a drawing to win one of the 27, Sandin said.
“One of the teachers stopped by and said that in her classroom when the student’s name was announced — who won — the other kids gathered around and gave them like a big group hug and cheered for them,” she said.
In addition to student-oriented books, the fair included cookbooks and bestsellers for adults. Such an event provides a great opportunity especially for families living in rural areas to access books, Sandin said.
“Families who don’t have access to bookstores — like you would if you were in the Cities — this is a way of bringing a bookstore to a rural community,” she said.
Parents whose kids attend Lake Ripley and who missed the book fair last week don’t need to worry, because it will return in May.
“Come take a look and see we’ve got classics like Clifford or scary stories to tell in the dark,” Sandin said. “We also have new books. It’s just a great way to see what stories are out there and talk with your child about books. And pick a good book to enjoy together.”
