Book Fairs at schools - very high priced.

Sounds like a good plan. But they wont change it here in US - or at least California. They will keep the prices high and stress to the kids to buy and push and push till they do or feel so bad that they can't.

It sounds as though they're exploiting and pressuring the kids, in order to get the parents' money and that, to me, is way out of order. What parent would want to see their child go without something which most of the others are buying? Oh well... I think you're going to have to start a book fund up now, for next year. A piggy bank, or something, where he can save gradually, and be able to go and pay for his own books. I'm sure that would give him a lot of pride!

Could help in that the child would be spending their "own" money - do they really want to buy that one expensive book or several others at a lessor price. Good a time as any to teach them the value of the dollar!

You're preaching to the choir! I spend the summers yard saling and pick up fantastic books for 10¢ each! I have a book shelf full of books for my grand daughters and they just love them! I even buy for furtur reading skills - I have collected 125 (in series order) of the Baby Sitters Club books for my GD when she gets old enough, which seems to be right now, just turned 8 and she reads so well. When mine were little the local library had a couple cart/buckets things full of books the library pulled from the shelves and put for sale for 10¢-25¢ - I kept my kids in great books for years that way. Even the Troll Book Clubs that they send the order forms home and money to be returned, those are high too. I always cried that night when I had to tell my kids no, I can't afford it. They were so hurt. I'd make it up to them by taking them to the library and letting them choose 10 books to buy and that helped them to get over it but didn't help them forget the embarresment they endured at school and while their friends got the book snad they didn'dt.

YOu are so right! I feel that books are something that should never get this high priced. SPecially kids books. We want kids to read. We want to be able to afford books for kids to read. But everything is just for profit nowadays. They know some people will still be buying. THey don't care about the rest. They even forget to check - what you say and very well - the the more affordable that books are, the more people will buy them, so the more books they sell!

Of course! And the lower priced the book is, the more they will sell, so the more money they will make and the more kids that will be able to read!! What part of that don't they understand!!!!!!!!

Me and common sense says no. If you make the book more affordable, you will sell more books. Period. If they'd lower the price of the books, those that couldn't afford the higher prices will be able to buy some of the books, and those that could afford the higher prices will buy more! What part of "make more money" do they not understand!!! But I think the school puts alot of pressure on the kids to buy and those that can't are really hurt and that isn't right of the school to do that.

Maybe they think that the kids can't get those books elsewhere and the kids would want to get those books. If you are familiar with Economics concept, this is a situation of inelastic demand. In such a case, the more you raise prices (despite sales dropping), the more profit you will get. Reality, my friend.

could be, but in this case, I don't think so. I think it is more "captive audience" and peer pressure. You are "somebody" if you buy from the Book Fair. And if you don't, you are no body. The teacher push the book fair, and I have heard them push the envelope saying, "support your school by buying at the book fair". that is so wrong. A book fair should be for promotinge reading, not make money for the school. Period. If the prices are to high that most can't buy, where have they made their money? But you can look out amongst the crowd and see those that couldn't afford to buy.

YOu say the intelligent thing, but schools don't care - their heads are to up in the air to get it. If the books were more reasonably priced, more books would sell, ergo the school would make more money! If the prices were more reasonable, those that can't afford the current high prices could afford to buy a few (as opposed to none at current prices) and those that can afford the current high prices, will buy more books - ergo "cultivating good reading skills". Let the kids have books and they will read. Keep books from them and they won't. How simple to understand is that!!?

Follow me! I have a standard "saling route" around my town! Looking forward to June when they start up! I collect all kinds of elementary age books. I buy ones I like or know are good or she will like and save them for when she gets in the next grade or so. I take her with me and let her pick out most any book she likes! ONly ones I don't let her buy are coloring books and that is cause I have some here and she hasn't bothered much with them.

Yeah, I have several bookshelves full of books me and my 8YO GD picked out. Just waiting for her to "Grow" into them and she is well on her way! I had one that I showed her and she mentioned that it was one just like that at the book fair! I said, see what you can find at yard sales? and she said Oh, yeah!!!

Im looking forward to the garage sale season myself for the same reason. I love the stuff I find and save so much that way, it's ridiculous. Now I'm excited and only wish in my town we had some good second hand shops.

That's exactly what I told my Grand daughter. Yard Sale season is comin up and she sale's withe me the last 3 years and she knows the bargins she can find and how much I let her choose and buy, so I told her, just read the 2 mommy bought you and next month, I'll give you $10 and we'll fill the book shelf with great books and she was at first dissapointed, but then thought about it and was excited. I think my daughter let's her buy cause she remembers how disapointed she was when I couldn't afford to let her buy.

How cute and how great she is proud of her spending habits! She will go far! My 8 yo is the same way. THing is her dad was with a woman and she told my GD (his daughter) that yard sales were not acceptable and put her down for doing it. Wish I could have sold that witch in a yard sale -she'd been on the 5¢ table and I'd a taken 1 for her! My GD is always so proud of what she buys.

Children get excited about something if your excited about it. I have a 3yr. old neice that came over the other day and said "see my new toy tatee(she can't say aunt cathy yet.) I said how pretty where did you get it? She said from a yard sale I didn't waste money at walmart so i got a pair of shoes too! She tells me every Monday what she got at yard sales over the weekend and she is always proud of not being wasteful.

Sarcasm duely noted and agreed with! School district employees have the best ever employment package, more than alot of us could ever hope for working in independent jobs and they still complain! At my GD school, parents volunteer so much that the school has turned them away saying they dont' have room for more volunteers or dont' need any more. So parents are doing half their work and they still complain! I told my other DIL that she needs to go to school and become a teacher - best ever salary/employment package and for the furture and medical and the absolute perfect job for a mother - you are off the same days the kids are off, off all summer long and don't have to find day care cause you work all summer, and only work 9 months out of the year and get paid as tho it were 12! VERY sore subject with me!

I don't see that the school "does" much either. I went into the school library today where it was and they just pulled some of their books off shelves and lined the Book Fair books up and that was it. BIg deal!

YOu got that right! They get so much money from so many places - most every larger store in this area (southern Calif ) but I'd bet over the country, like Target, Walmart and grocery stores have programs where if you join the program or use their credit card, a percentage of your purchase price will be donated to comunity schools. I see school fund raisers like picnics, and pancake breakfasts and things like that all the time. dozens of fund raiser during the school year the kids participate in.... good grief the money just rolls in! I myself am helping my grand daughter with their fund raiser - for her sake, not the schools! Box Tops 4 Education - a program from major food manufactures and the like - they put the litte Box Top label on their products and you collect the little squares (not alywas on the box top) They are redemable for 10¢ each. So the kids bring them in and each class has their own collections and every month the class the collects the most gets a brownie party and twice a year the class that collects the most for the previous 4 months, gets a pizza party. I have a web site where I swap box tops for free scrapbooking supplies. I had so much and long story but it was a way to hwlp my GD and deplete my huge inventory of scrapbook stuff. She counts the boxtops and verifies expireation dates and we mark on a USA map where they came from and she sends thankyou notes (costs me postage alot, but I do it for her) So far this year, at last check the school had "earned" $1600 just in box tops! I asked the chair person what theydid with the money and she says "Oh they buy things the school needs like ink cartridges and paper and pencils" Well, they also have a box in the office for people to "donate" empty ink cartridges. This one office supply store has a program where you get $3 store credit for every empty ink cartridge you bring in, limit 5 per person. So they get money for that whichi s a nice sum and they have a pencil machine in the cafeteria selling pencils for 25¢ each when they could go to Dollar Tres and buy 12 for $1 but they won't make money that way. This just annoys me to no end. I tend to go on about it.

Sounds like a typical book fair.

Probably, but they are costing the kids, and although they could care less, us parents and grand parents do.

That is so sad. Totally riduclous too! My 8 yo GD is into mermaids and faries at the moment. I happened to notice a sign saying 80% off books at a new bookstore. so I went in. Well, it was Crown books, but apparentlly just a close out temp thing, and they didn't have much int he way of kids books, but I was looking through - and there was one called Mermaidia! I thought it rung a bell and thennotice the babie looking mermaid on the front - she had mentioned a movie called Mermaidia - I knew it was a book that she would love! And the price.....$1.99. Of course I grabbed it, but just goes to show, the same books can be bought for alot less than the schools price them at. I'd paid (well, I wouldn't have paid it, but it would have been priced....) $7.99 at least at the school! I just don't get it. THey push reading, but make it so hard.....