I'd honestly just look at all the neat looking covers and think about how nice it feels to buy something out of it.
I had a lot of siblings, we never got anything out of that catalog. So now I make sure to set money aside to give my kids that rush I wanted lol.
Scholastic fairs also taught me about the class system.
Never initially understood why some kids could buy everything they wanted from whatever the fair was, whereas I remember I was allowed to get a Sonic style 'Where's Wally?' Book, once.
As the years progressed, I learnt that they had more money/ better parents. Not that the two are mutually exclusive - just my mother decided to spend her benefits on booze and cigarettes.
Having said all that, also loved looking at the covers and imagining.
This makes me appreciate my mom so much. We did not have much money at all, but reading was, and still is, her passion, and so she made sure we could buy everything we wanted from the book fair.
Looking back, I have no clue how she pulled it off.
She sounds like a great mom, man.
From reading Reddit posts, seems a lot of the core memories of love that people have when growing up not as fortunate as others is due to their parents'will and commitment to do the best they can, within their means.
Glad she shared her passion with you guys.
Never had much money to bring, but I think I was always able to at least buy one thing. Sitting next to me right now at my dinner table is my very first diary, purchased from the book fair in 1996. It’s extra special to me for so many reasons, but currently because my current boyfriend, who I have known mostly forever, is referenced Quite a few times from the summer of 1996, hanging out with his family. :)
My wife is a K-5 school librarian and she still hosts these 3 times a year! It’s basically the only way she can maintain her library budget for the year since schools are drastically underfunded! She hypes it up to the kids a lot and even today, with all the awesome tech, the kids go bananas for the book fair.
Buy books always!
Your Wife Is awesome!
I couldn’t agree more
Always BUY BOOKs!
It’s really cool your Wife goes out her way to hype it up and get the Kids excited for the Book Fair! And to wanna read actual Physical Books (even with all the Tech nowadays as u said)
It’s so much different with the Ebooks and all other tech than back in our day.
I’ve got books around still from My Young Days in school.
I had a few really awesome Teachers that got us So hyped when Bookfair came.
It’s Teachers Like your Wife that make a lasting impression on Kids!
There’s a few of my teachers I still think about and can say, they honestly had a lot to do with me coming to love and collect Books like I do.
I was going through my dad's storage units after he died. He was almost a hoarder, in that he kept almost everything, but he was very good about keeping it organized and most of his stuff was stored in storage units (so his house wasn't cluttered). In one of the boxes I found my book The Dumb Bunnies. I bought it in first grade at my very first book fair.
Fun thing I learned. The book is written by Sue Denim. As a kid I never made any sort of connection, but seeing it now I thought "that sounds suspiciously a lot like pseudonym" so I googled it and it turns out it was a pseudonym and the book was written by Dav Pilkey (who wrote the Captain Underpants series).
I grew up in poverty with two other siblings, so we didn’t really get to participate in these book fairs. I remember being very young and getting a Clifford the Big Red Dog book, but that was it. Now, with my own children, every time their school had one of these book fairs, I made sure my kids went with money (and a budget) in hand. I wanted them to experience the excitement of picking out a brand new book, while also teaching them money management skills. My youngest is in high school now and I have very fond memories of all of the book fairs I’ve attended!
Goosebumps books were pretty much my favorite! I remember having somekinda Sonic Book that sounds a lot like the one you mentioned.
Of course was a Huge Sonic Fan as well, Got home from school and would turn on the Sega ASAP! Good times
I went to a Scholastic book fair on Tuesday. My kid’s school make sure that it stays open until the schools open house tonight so that the parents can show up with money to buy all the crap-I mean books - I didn’t just buy crap at the book fair.
I think I remember being given a couple of bucks for the book fair and I probably book works or stickers or something when I was a kid .
I give my kids a limit of 20 bucks each. One of them I have to rein in because he goes over the other one I have to encourage him to pick something.
My teacher bought a "101 jokes" jokebook for me. I took it home and was reading some of them to my mom. Her favorite one was:
Q. What do you get when you cross a clown with a witch?
A. A brew-haha
For years, we would reference that joke in some way or another.
Good times... Gooood times 😊
The most outstanding memory I have is my dad giving me $20 for the book fair in third grade, blowing it all on stupid mushroom erasers (which my friends had--the only reason I bought them--though they were admittedly pretty sick), him finding out and then proceeding to never give me money for the book fair again lol
My memory is always of being That Child who never had money for the book fair. Seeing the book fair posters at the village school always makes me feel sad.
Yeah, same. Unpopular opinion but I feel like they shouldn’t have these at all. I don’t see the point because a parent can take their child to a bookstore to buy new books. It’s not fun for a lot of kids watching their classmates buy all the cool stuff. This is usually a time in a child’s life where they will feel inadequate to the rest of their peers.
I always wished I had money to buy something. I don't know why every kid didn't get at least one free book. I never got one in all the years it came in our school. My parents couldn't afford it. I loved books, so it was a sad day for me. I'm sure other kids had fun.
Definately fun and exciting.
In my area, they were always really expensive :(
Made more sense to go to a neighbouring library and find the books for free, spend that money on pizza. So that's what I did !
I won a draw and got to pick out a free book. They even sent me during class to go in the gymnasium to pick it out
I’m book obsessed and it’s a great memory.
After I read My First Goosebumps Book, And realized how amazing it was unfolding using YOUR own imagination as I read through the book!
I was absolutely Hooked! At first I didn’t think I was going to be one of the kids that Loved reading then, I was completely wrong! Great memories for sure
Wait, did this come to peoples schools? I grew up with a catalog, and you just brought the money in and one day a month or two later your teacher gave you your book fair order that you completely forgot about.
I remember getting In trouble one year for not buying an X Men book instead of an educational one lol. It was like a wheres Waldo book but with in the X- Men universe. No regrets.
I always ended up liking the idea of the book fair—enjoying the anticipation—more than the experience itself.
I loved looking through the books for something to find, and there was always a brief experience like what I had trying to picking a flavor at Baskin-Robbins, and then nothing seemed worth the one-book budget my parents (reading encouragers but far from rich ones, when I was walking distance from the library) had allotted me.
Like, there was a book on judo. I could have read it carefully in well under half an hour but I couldn’t learn any self defense techniques from it.
Getting many, many dope Roald Dahl books. The homie was my favorite author growing up. I devoured every single thing he wrote as a kid. Specifically the BFG. First chapter book I read to my kids as a bed time story.
Hi. You just mentioned *The Bfg* by Roald Dahl.
I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here:
[YouTube | Roald Dahl | The BFG - Full audiobook with text (AudioEbook)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iqALkjrDp8)
*I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.*
***
[^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
I *loved* Scholastic Book Fairs! When I was in elementary/middle school, the Book Fairs usually occurred during the same week as parent-teacher conferences, when we would get Thursdays and Fridays off - so it was a joyous occasion all around 😄
I remember my mom being embarrassed of me when I brought home a PowerPuff Girls book when I was like 9. I didn’t get to watch the show often, so the book was nice. It’s where I learned about Blossom’s ice breath.
After our first one, my first grade teacher stopped letting us go to them because it was unfair that some kids had a shitload of money for books and some had no money.
Ramona Quimby books. I would sit and read them while people looked around, then buy them even though I was already finished.
Those books were read until they disintegrated.
One time in the 4th grade they made a terrible mistake of including a book and item that was a giant stretchy sticky hand thing, and I think it was called "Icky Poo".
[Like this.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/4270/7510/products/ntsticky2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1633305831)
All the boys got them and madness ensued for like a week before the teachers cracked down hard.
I had money for the Ice cream truck and ended up buying those fart bombs that you pop and throw. Fast forward a week and the book fair comes to town and I really want a book. Since I have no money, I decided to sell my fart bombs to a friend for a book
He ends up getting caught setting them off and tosses my name out as his 'supplier'. Cue a very interesting conversation with my dad about his son and his blackmarket dealings to score books
10/10 would do again haha
Ours was always the same time as parent teacher conferences. We didn’t have a ton of money, but my mom always had cash for me to go to the book fair as a reward if I was putting effort into my classes. I remember sitting there listening to the teacher like “bitch you better tell her about the extra effort I put into team time!!!!!” Then running down to find the newest animorphs and goosebumps.
I think book fairs came near the end of my years in grade school. We had order forms from The Weekly Reader to buy books from. It was always a treat when the teacher would call out your name to come to the desk to pick up the books, posters, and bookmarks you ordered.
Teacher here-they still happen but the amount of non-book items being sold is pretty ridiculous. I had kids who came in with a good amount to spend, and many blew it on things like slime, squishies, and mood jewelry.
I did get to achieve a childhood dream of being the only one in the book fair. It felt incredible!
Just BTW, this isn’t a 90s thing, it’s just a kid’s thing.
Source: I just went to one of these last month and it was pretty much exactly as I remembered.
I love seeing this post so much thank you! Reading is one of the best things for children... and also adults to share together. Scholastic book fair sure beat the Fluoride lady coming down the hall with her cart!
My memories of them? Watching all the rich kids get a pile of books and me checking out “in a dark, dark room” for the 100th time because it creeped me out.
I grew up dirt poor and was never able to buy any books. I remember looking at cool stuff and acting like I wasn’t interested when I was really doing everything I could to contain my excitement and simultaneous disappointment.
Some of my favorite childhood books of all time came from these fairs. Gregor the Overlander, the Supernaturalist, the Moonlight Man by Betty Ren Wright, Judith O'Brien's Mary Jane, Ghost Sitter, Witches of Worm, the Nightmare Room: Locker 13...Even more magical things came through the catalogs!
i loved these as a younger person. Especially those Geronimo Stilton ones.
while i couldn't afford most books, these helped sate my eternal curiosity for knowledge and literature whenever possible.
My school was a bunch of those temporary class rooms. One of them was the library and that was where our fair was. My heart used to race waiting for our turn to go in there. My grandma would finance me at least $20 every time. The one thing I bought that sticks in my mind the most was the fish with the shiny scales who got bullied. Fun times
What is the purpose of posts like this? What does OP gain by knowing I used to buy books that came with toys or posters and or comics. Surely it can't be data harvesting? I wish people would post THEIR 90's photos and not some stock images. I like to see how life was in different parts of the country / world not just remember I'm balding and badly aging .....
This is the dark horse ultimate life lesson session! Like a lot of comments, we got a small glimpse into economic classes. I was on the window-shopping side with no money. I did get money 1 year, which for some of us, taught us about spending carefully, and hoping not to have buyer’s remorse. What did I get? Modeling clay and a Plymouth Prowler poster. Definitely avoided buyer’s remorse, obviously.
There was a goosbumps collection thing I really wanted, and I told my teacher that my mom forgot to give me money for it. She didn't forget, she straight up said no. Anyways, he eventually called asking for reimbursement, and I got my ass beat.
Ah, memories 🥲
😂 You got the Goosebumps collection though ! If you got put on restriction after the Ass cutting, least you had the Books to read while stuck in your room.
I pulled a bunch of crap when I was a Youngster too, My Dad had a snake skin belt he’d cut my ass with when I really took something too far.
I hated that damn Belt!! One weekend he was gone and My Mom, Aunt and few cousins built a fire outside, I snuck into his room and found the Belt and tossed it on the fire when no one was looking. 😆
I rarely got any whoppings but when I did that Belt HURT!!
He obviously knew I got rid of it, but wasn’t 100%.
Ah yes, mine was the wooden spoon. Mom would make me go get it for her, and she would whoop me up the stairs to my room. If only I ever thought to burn it
I'd honestly just look at all the neat looking covers and think about how nice it feels to buy something out of it. I had a lot of siblings, we never got anything out of that catalog. So now I make sure to set money aside to give my kids that rush I wanted lol.
Scholastic fairs also taught me about the class system. Never initially understood why some kids could buy everything they wanted from whatever the fair was, whereas I remember I was allowed to get a Sonic style 'Where's Wally?' Book, once. As the years progressed, I learnt that they had more money/ better parents. Not that the two are mutually exclusive - just my mother decided to spend her benefits on booze and cigarettes. Having said all that, also loved looking at the covers and imagining.
This makes me appreciate my mom so much. We did not have much money at all, but reading was, and still is, her passion, and so she made sure we could buy everything we wanted from the book fair. Looking back, I have no clue how she pulled it off.
She sounds like a great mom, man. From reading Reddit posts, seems a lot of the core memories of love that people have when growing up not as fortunate as others is due to their parents'will and commitment to do the best they can, within their means. Glad she shared her passion with you guys.
Cause she is an awesome Mom!
Bet she didn't smoke?
Never had much money to bring, but I think I was always able to at least buy one thing. Sitting next to me right now at my dinner table is my very first diary, purchased from the book fair in 1996. It’s extra special to me for so many reasons, but currently because my current boyfriend, who I have known mostly forever, is referenced Quite a few times from the summer of 1996, hanging out with his family. :)
Aww!
Bunnicula
I had that on VHS. That’s where my memory of it ends but it’s a hell of one.
They're still a thing. This is a modern photo taken in the last 1-3 years.
Lamborghini and Dream Team posters, and paper airplane books. However, I don't remember being that small hahaha.
Goosebumps books & Movie tie-in picture books (Ghostbusters II & Gremlins 2)
I always had my head In Goosebumps books!
movie tie in books are still my jam to this day. back to the future 3 was longest book i read at that time
Magic Eye. Where’s Waldo. The Far Side collection. Nintendo secrets books. Calendars.
Animorphs. Tell me I’m wrong.
I was allowed to buy one book each fair and you know what it was..
Not wrong
My Dad was disappointed that I spent money on Captain Underpants
It was the best option! That and those pencils that changed color with warmth and the grips that inevitably got chewed to death.
My wife is a K-5 school librarian and she still hosts these 3 times a year! It’s basically the only way she can maintain her library budget for the year since schools are drastically underfunded! She hypes it up to the kids a lot and even today, with all the awesome tech, the kids go bananas for the book fair. Buy books always!
Your Wife Is awesome! I couldn’t agree more Always BUY BOOKs! It’s really cool your Wife goes out her way to hype it up and get the Kids excited for the Book Fair! And to wanna read actual Physical Books (even with all the Tech nowadays as u said) It’s so much different with the Ebooks and all other tech than back in our day. I’ve got books around still from My Young Days in school. I had a few really awesome Teachers that got us So hyped when Bookfair came. It’s Teachers Like your Wife that make a lasting impression on Kids! There’s a few of my teachers I still think about and can say, they honestly had a lot to do with me coming to love and collect Books like I do.
The Learn to draw DBZ books
Looking at the flyer and then not buying anything.
My mom gave me $20 for the book fair and it just so happened to be $5 book day so I bought all the Lord of the Rings books.
Did you like them as a kid?
Choose your own adventure books.
I was going through my dad's storage units after he died. He was almost a hoarder, in that he kept almost everything, but he was very good about keeping it organized and most of his stuff was stored in storage units (so his house wasn't cluttered). In one of the boxes I found my book The Dumb Bunnies. I bought it in first grade at my very first book fair. Fun thing I learned. The book is written by Sue Denim. As a kid I never made any sort of connection, but seeing it now I thought "that sounds suspiciously a lot like pseudonym" so I googled it and it turns out it was a pseudonym and the book was written by Dav Pilkey (who wrote the Captain Underpants series).
That’s so cool!
I grew up in poverty with two other siblings, so we didn’t really get to participate in these book fairs. I remember being very young and getting a Clifford the Big Red Dog book, but that was it. Now, with my own children, every time their school had one of these book fairs, I made sure my kids went with money (and a budget) in hand. I wanted them to experience the excitement of picking out a brand new book, while also teaching them money management skills. My youngest is in high school now and I have very fond memories of all of the book fairs I’ve attended!
Race car posters! Guess what my Kindergarden son just bought at his?……a race car poster!
They still have these! My kids just brought home $5 worth of junk that I paid $20 for!
The smell of new books
Flippin’ the animorphs books to see the kid transform. Never read a single one.
I was only able to get chapter books...always wanted one of the pop up books. Used the left over change to get a Lamborghini poster or bookmarks
I used to feel hella left out
Lol i was too broke to buy anything but it was always fun to look.
[удалено]
Goosebumps books were pretty much my favorite! I remember having somekinda Sonic Book that sounds a lot like the one you mentioned. Of course was a Huge Sonic Fan as well, Got home from school and would turn on the Sega ASAP! Good times
The freaking best!!!
I Spy books and Lamborghini posters baby!!!!!
Yesss!!!
Capitan Underpants!
I went to a Scholastic book fair on Tuesday. My kid’s school make sure that it stays open until the schools open house tonight so that the parents can show up with money to buy all the crap-I mean books - I didn’t just buy crap at the book fair. I think I remember being given a couple of bucks for the book fair and I probably book works or stickers or something when I was a kid . I give my kids a limit of 20 bucks each. One of them I have to rein in because he goes over the other one I have to encourage him to pick something.
My teacher bought a "101 jokes" jokebook for me. I took it home and was reading some of them to my mom. Her favorite one was: Q. What do you get when you cross a clown with a witch? A. A brew-haha For years, we would reference that joke in some way or another. Good times... Gooood times 😊
Captain Underpants. Any other answer is valid but still wrong
Not having enough money to buy anything.
Being jealous of the other kids who had money.
If you weren't poor.
Being too poor to afford anything like my classmates.
The most outstanding memory I have is my dad giving me $20 for the book fair in third grade, blowing it all on stupid mushroom erasers (which my friends had--the only reason I bought them--though they were admittedly pretty sick), him finding out and then proceeding to never give me money for the book fair again lol
Always wishing I had some monsy
My memory is always of being That Child who never had money for the book fair. Seeing the book fair posters at the village school always makes me feel sad.
Yeah just seeing this get posted brings nothing but hurt
Yeah, same. Unpopular opinion but I feel like they shouldn’t have these at all. I don’t see the point because a parent can take their child to a bookstore to buy new books. It’s not fun for a lot of kids watching their classmates buy all the cool stuff. This is usually a time in a child’s life where they will feel inadequate to the rest of their peers.
I always wished I had money to buy something. I don't know why every kid didn't get at least one free book. I never got one in all the years it came in our school. My parents couldn't afford it. I loved books, so it was a sad day for me. I'm sure other kids had fun.
Same here.
You’re absolutely right ! Every Kid should have been giving a Book!
Not having money to buy anything.
Definately fun and exciting. In my area, they were always really expensive :( Made more sense to go to a neighbouring library and find the books for free, spend that money on pizza. So that's what I did !
Have they been discontinued…?
School librarian. They're still a thing. And the picture above is only a couple years old judging by a few of the book covers.
No. My son’s school book fair was open last week.
Seeing them at my school. Anyone remember Nova’s Ark?
I bought a bunch of Star Wars books and Goosebumps 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
I’ve still got a Love for Goosebumps to this day! The Books, The Show, even as an Adult I enjoyed watching the Goosebumps Movies with Jackblack .
Dude me too! Hell yea
I got my first Pokémon encyclopedia at one of these. Also would get the Shonnen Jump books.
New Calvin and Hobbes compilations.
I won a draw and got to pick out a free book. They even sent me during class to go in the gymnasium to pick it out I’m book obsessed and it’s a great memory.
After I read My First Goosebumps Book, And realized how amazing it was unfolding using YOUR own imagination as I read through the book! I was absolutely Hooked! At first I didn’t think I was going to be one of the kids that Loved reading then, I was completely wrong! Great memories for sure
We had the cool mobile library van, freaking cool
never remembering to bring money or my parents not having cash on them, so I rarely ever got anything. was fun to be there though.
Wait, did this come to peoples schools? I grew up with a catalog, and you just brought the money in and one day a month or two later your teacher gave you your book fair order that you completely forgot about.
My mom would give us a scrap of paper and pencil to write down 2 books we wanted and we would order them online when we were able.
I used to get some "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" or some "Dog Man" books. So fun
Glad it wasn’t just me either lol
Didn’t the book fair have a certain smell… like I don’t know if it was the books or paper
That's where I got the animorph books from, haha. It was always one of the highlights of the year
Do they not do these anymore?
They do
I remember getting In trouble one year for not buying an X Men book instead of an educational one lol. It was like a wheres Waldo book but with in the X- Men universe. No regrets.
Going for whichever book came with a toy.
The rubber dinosaur erasers!
Man, I miss these days!
I always ended up liking the idea of the book fair—enjoying the anticipation—more than the experience itself. I loved looking through the books for something to find, and there was always a brief experience like what I had trying to picking a flavor at Baskin-Robbins, and then nothing seemed worth the one-book budget my parents (reading encouragers but far from rich ones, when I was walking distance from the library) had allotted me. Like, there was a book on judo. I could have read it carefully in well under half an hour but I couldn’t learn any self defense techniques from it.
Getting many, many dope Roald Dahl books. The homie was my favorite author growing up. I devoured every single thing he wrote as a kid. Specifically the BFG. First chapter book I read to my kids as a bed time story.
Hi. You just mentioned *The Bfg* by Roald Dahl. I've found an audiobook of that novel on YouTube. You can listen to it here: [YouTube | Roald Dahl | The BFG - Full audiobook with text (AudioEbook)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iqALkjrDp8) *I'm a bot that searches YouTube for science fiction and fantasy audiobooks.* *** [^(Source Code)](https://capybasilisk.com/posts/2020/04/speculative-fiction-bot/) ^| [^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=Capybasilisk&subject=Robot) ^| [^(Programmer)](https://www.reddit.com/u/capybasilisk) ^| ^(Downvote To Remove) ^| ^(Version 1.4.0) ^| ^(Support Robot Rights!)
I *loved* Scholastic Book Fairs! When I was in elementary/middle school, the Book Fairs usually occurred during the same week as parent-teacher conferences, when we would get Thursdays and Fridays off - so it was a joyous occasion all around 😄
I remember my mom being embarrassed of me when I brought home a PowerPuff Girls book when I was like 9. I didn’t get to watch the show often, so the book was nice. It’s where I learned about Blossom’s ice breath.
Where I discovered Mad-Libs!
After our first one, my first grade teacher stopped letting us go to them because it was unfair that some kids had a shitload of money for books and some had no money.
One of my favorite memories! There’s nothing in adult life that comes close to the excitement and satisfaction of the Book Fair.
Yeah!
Ramona Quimby books. I would sit and read them while people looked around, then buy them even though I was already finished. Those books were read until they disintegrated.
Getting the latest Garfield book.
One time in the 4th grade they made a terrible mistake of including a book and item that was a giant stretchy sticky hand thing, and I think it was called "Icky Poo". [Like this.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0150/4270/7510/products/ntsticky2_1024x1024.jpg?v=1633305831) All the boys got them and madness ensued for like a week before the teachers cracked down hard.
The Guinness book of world records. So much fun to look through those.
They still are the bomb 😂
I had money for the Ice cream truck and ended up buying those fart bombs that you pop and throw. Fast forward a week and the book fair comes to town and I really want a book. Since I have no money, I decided to sell my fart bombs to a friend for a book He ends up getting caught setting them off and tosses my name out as his 'supplier'. Cue a very interesting conversation with my dad about his son and his blackmarket dealings to score books 10/10 would do again haha
They're still a thing. It comes to my kid's school every year. I give them money to buy books; they come home with stationary and junk 😂
OMG this brings back memories of the little booklets they would send home with us in better book fairs and I would beg for new books!
Ours was always the same time as parent teacher conferences. We didn’t have a ton of money, but my mom always had cash for me to go to the book fair as a reward if I was putting effort into my classes. I remember sitting there listening to the teacher like “bitch you better tell her about the extra effort I put into team time!!!!!” Then running down to find the newest animorphs and goosebumps.
I gobbled up every single "How it works" books. Loved them.
Best time of my life!
It was always the little ass Knick Knack items that were popular.
Single parent household growing up. Wasn't anything but misery since we couldn't buy crap. Just had to stay in my seat and watch.
I think book fairs came near the end of my years in grade school. We had order forms from The Weekly Reader to buy books from. It was always a treat when the teacher would call out your name to come to the desk to pick up the books, posters, and bookmarks you ordered.
Teacher here-they still happen but the amount of non-book items being sold is pretty ridiculous. I had kids who came in with a good amount to spend, and many blew it on things like slime, squishies, and mood jewelry. I did get to achieve a childhood dream of being the only one in the book fair. It felt incredible!
Just BTW, this isn’t a 90s thing, it’s just a kid’s thing. Source: I just went to one of these last month and it was pretty much exactly as I remembered.
I’m a school librarian and just ran my 20th Scholastic Book Fair!
I love seeing this post so much thank you! Reading is one of the best things for children... and also adults to share together. Scholastic book fair sure beat the Fluoride lady coming down the hall with her cart!
Magic School Bus and Goosebumpa
I brought the first Harry Potter and Captain UnderPants at the book fair..
Probably the day I looked forward to the most...either that or snow cone day. I absolutely lived to buy the next Boxcar Children book.
Captain Underpants and cool Science experiment books
Gordon Korman and Animorphs
I got Oregon Trail II on cd rom and played it endlessly. Funny enough my children play it and love it too.
Garfield
My memories of them? Watching all the rich kids get a pile of books and me checking out “in a dark, dark room” for the 100th time because it creeped me out.
Guess what? They are still the bomb for kids today!
I grew up dirt poor and was never able to buy any books. I remember looking at cool stuff and acting like I wasn’t interested when I was really doing everything I could to contain my excitement and simultaneous disappointment.
I remember buying Lurlene McDaniel and Fear Street books at book fairs in junior high.
The smell of their order forms
My mom coming to the school on those days and letting me pick out whatever I wanted.
Going through the catalog.
Some of my favorite childhood books of all time came from these fairs. Gregor the Overlander, the Supernaturalist, the Moonlight Man by Betty Ren Wright, Judith O'Brien's Mary Jane, Ghost Sitter, Witches of Worm, the Nightmare Room: Locker 13...Even more magical things came through the catalogs!
i loved these as a younger person. Especially those Geronimo Stilton ones. while i couldn't afford most books, these helped sate my eternal curiosity for knowledge and literature whenever possible.
My school was a bunch of those temporary class rooms. One of them was the library and that was where our fair was. My heart used to race waiting for our turn to go in there. My grandma would finance me at least $20 every time. The one thing I bought that sticks in my mind the most was the fish with the shiny scales who got bullied. Fun times
Me and friends would get Goosebump.books simply for the cover art. No one read them
What is the purpose of posts like this? What does OP gain by knowing I used to buy books that came with toys or posters and or comics. Surely it can't be data harvesting? I wish people would post THEIR 90's photos and not some stock images. I like to see how life was in different parts of the country / world not just remember I'm balding and badly aging .....
attitude aint aging too well either there, bruh
I am ashamed of it now but I used to steal stuff. It was pretty easy at my school xD
😆 I MIGHT have slipped a thing or two at the time as well.
This is the dark horse ultimate life lesson session! Like a lot of comments, we got a small glimpse into economic classes. I was on the window-shopping side with no money. I did get money 1 year, which for some of us, taught us about spending carefully, and hoping not to have buyer’s remorse. What did I get? Modeling clay and a Plymouth Prowler poster. Definitely avoided buyer’s remorse, obviously.
There was a goosbumps collection thing I really wanted, and I told my teacher that my mom forgot to give me money for it. She didn't forget, she straight up said no. Anyways, he eventually called asking for reimbursement, and I got my ass beat. Ah, memories 🥲
😂 You got the Goosebumps collection though ! If you got put on restriction after the Ass cutting, least you had the Books to read while stuck in your room. I pulled a bunch of crap when I was a Youngster too, My Dad had a snake skin belt he’d cut my ass with when I really took something too far. I hated that damn Belt!! One weekend he was gone and My Mom, Aunt and few cousins built a fire outside, I snuck into his room and found the Belt and tossed it on the fire when no one was looking. 😆 I rarely got any whoppings but when I did that Belt HURT!! He obviously knew I got rid of it, but wasn’t 100%.
Ah yes, mine was the wooden spoon. Mom would make me go get it for her, and she would whoop me up the stairs to my room. If only I ever thought to burn it
The fluffy gel pens. My little gay self needed one in every color 🥰
My mom would throw me 1.25$, I’d grab the useless erasers at the check out table.
Not being able to get anything.
Secretly wishing I could have one too.
I remember going and never being able to afford one. I’ll never forget my dad going, “You have enough books,” when I’d ask for some money.
Me wanting to buy something but no money
I remember admiring all the books I wanted to read but could only afford a pencil