You're at your childhood book fair...

[True Dough]

Remember those? What would you buy?

I was captivated by the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Collected most of those books. Just looking at these covers brings back so many memories.

[applegrove]

1. They used to sell toys at the book Fair at our school. I liked the

bouncing balls. Very colorful and they were small but bounced 10 feet in the air. I bought a poster there once too. It said: If you don't know where you are going you'll probably end up somewhere else. I was about 11. I thought it was hilarious. Shows you what an egg head I was. No posters of movie stars on my walls....that would be too personal.

[Laffy Kat]

2. Book fairs were after my time but I used to volunteer to work at my kids'

School's book fair. I loved watching the students walk in the room, their eyes would light up. I could always pick out the passionate readers. There were so many books to choose from it could be overwhelming.

[redwitch]

3. Scholastic Book Fairs smelled so good!

I don't remember any book in particular but I do remember reveling in the smell of the books.

[lastlib]

4. I was a YUGE 'Brains Benton' fan!

Read 'em all, multiple times! Found 'em on eBay a few years ago--bought the complete set, and read 'em again!

Also liked Encyclopedia Brown, and enjoyed a book titled "Yellow Eyes", about a mountain lion--good book!

[femmocrat]

5. We didn't have book fairs when I went to school, but I always went when I was teaching.

Book Fair is an exciting time in elementary school! The PTO moms would even elaborately decorate the entrance to the library according to the theme, such as a castle, "Movie Night" etc. There were always accompanying activities in the classrooms. A lot of work, but I hope the kids have good memories.

[PennyK]

6. Not only the fair, but the whole book club thing

I loved getting the catalog! You would get credits toward more books as you purchased, so you could "buy" more than you had money to spend. And they didn't collect the money until the books arrived, so I guess it was my first experience with buying on credit.
My daughters loved it too...I think that was how Daniele started her Baby-Sitters Club collection. It wasn't until the era of the big bookstores (Borders in particular) that we realized you could get Scholastic Books in stores. We once went to a book signing with Ann M. Martin (who authored the Baby-Sitters books).

[NJCher]

7. as a kid, the best day in the world was when

the library got in a new Nancy Drew.



I wanted to be Nancy Drew. In fact, I was so pitifully short on mysteries to solve in my childhood small town, that my friends invented mysteries for me to solve. When I solved the mystery, my pay was in Monopoly money.


Cher

[Angry Dragon]

19. your post made me smile

[Generic Brad]

8. I was not allowed to buy any Scholastic books

We didn't have enough money and after Catholic school tuition for three kids, there was nothing left for extras like that. But I did have a library card and I read anything I could get my hands on. I always had my card maxed out.

Imagine the horror I instilled in my family when I was reading Kurt Vonnegut, Jr while I was in the 5th grade!

[handmade34]

9. ahhh, book fairs...

my kids favorite was... even as young kids they had perverted senses of humor

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[KatyaR]

10. Nancy Drew mysteries.

I just recently found out that they have been "edited and updated" over the years by different authors. So the stories I read as a child aren't the same as today's books.

It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

[hunter]

11. Anything that encourages children to read is good.

When they are older, maybe children will find the book editions their parents read and be intrigued by the historical settings and attitudes.

My dad had a set of Tom Swift books when he was a kid and I'd read them when we were visiting my grandma's house. They were already dated then. Mostly I noted the technology.

Now I read them and it's even more fun, especially seeing the blatant sexism. I'm sure it wasn't obvious when my dad first read them. The girls bring the boys sandwiches and tell them how smart they are.

Nancy Drew is a different sort, a strong minded girl who makes her own path, but there are still many things in the original stories that are out of place in today's world.

Adding more diverse characters and incorporating modern technology into the stories is a good thing; it makes the stories more accessible to the the children who are reading them.

Older unrevised editions of mass-market children's books don't vanish. Project Gutenberg has many Tom Swift books that have passed out of copyright, most of them amusingly dated in both their technology and social mores.

Unfortunately, older editions of Nancy Drew are not on Project Gutenberg because the copyrights have been aggressively maintained.

1959 Nancy Drew:



And this horror from the 'eighties:



Scenes like that are why I fled Southern California!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew

[OriginalGeek]

12. I remember the book-mobile coming through

and those were my favorite days. I don't remember what books I got though. this would have been late 60s, early 70s so I'm not sure we had choose-your-own adventures but I specifically remember my kids getting them at their book fairs.

Our book-mobile was an actual mobile. Big bus we got on the front, perused through and purchased in the back.

I am pretty sure I read every Hardy Boys book there was but I think I got those from the library. I wore out a few library cards. Once I started getting to Jr high almost everything I read was Sci-Fi and fantasy though.

Although I do remember loving Dickens and the Scarlet Pimpernel series.

[True Dough]

13. I read some Hardy Boys

mysteries as well. And I had huge collections of MAD magazine and Archie comics too. Loved reading at an early age.

[True Dough]

14. Does anyone remember the MS read-a-thon?

That was another school-based activity I recall from elementary/middle school. We would go around the community getting sponsors for each book we read. Some would donate a dime per book or a quarter per book. All proceeds when to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

[Skittles]

15. I LOVED Enid Blyton's The Famous Five series

I do believe I read them all

[shenmue]

16. Those were awesome

[Iggo]

17. My favorite.

[LWolf]

18. Oh, my.

My lifetime as a bibliophile started early. Here are just a few, but the very first one stands above the rest. I STILL, 49 years after the first read, want to be Sam.

?w=190&h=300 https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51s5UsdC7LL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

[True Dough]

20. Out of all of those

the only one that I'm familiar with is "A Wrinkle in Time." I bet I missed out on some good books from that lot.

[LWolf]

21. Yes.

My Side of the Mountain is a classic that I think everyone of any age should read.

Of course, as an introvert and a lover of the outdoors, running away to live in a tree on a mountain is still my most perfect fantasy.