Some community members asked us about the change to Usborne Books & More for this year's book fair, so we'd like to clarify the situation to ensure everyone understands our decision.
Historically, these book fairs are one of the PTCO's most successful fundraisers. This year's pandemic restrictions have created an unprecedented challenge for traditional book fairs. While our usual partner, Scholastic, does offer an option for a virtual book fair, the PTCO board felt that this option was not as robust as we'd like and would require a lot of re-training for our volunteers for very little benefit. After repeated calls to the community for assistance, no-one was able to take charge of the event using the Scholastic format.
Luckily, the Educational Service Representative with Usborne Books & More that serves our school is also a community member. She volunteered to organize the book fair under a format that she's very familiar with: an Usborne Books virtual book fair. This allowed the Georgia PTCO to proceed with this exciting event despite the current challenges. We're very grateful to her for taking on this enormous task, and we hope everyone will continue to support us for this event in the same way they have in the past.
- Has the PTCO stopped working with Scholastic?
- Is a book fair with Usborne Books & More profitable?
- Are Usborne books more expensive than Scholastic books?
- What about shipping cost?
No! This change in book fair provider is not a permanent one. We love the Scholastic book fairs, and we look forward to bringing them back as soon as state and school policies allow it again. Our current goal is to hold Scholastic book fairs in the same, previous format as soon as possible. Depending on the success of this Usborne book fair, we may also choose to mix-and-match in the future to cater to everyone's needs.
Yes! All of the proceeds from this book fair will be returned to the school. With the virtual format this year, 65% of the total sales will be coming back to us (15% in funds, and 50% as free books for GEMS teachers).
We understand that many families are currently struggling financially at this time. The prices of books between Scholastic and Usborne are very comparable. Both have many affordable options, and both have more costly options. The physical quality of books between them is also very comparable. Usborne has dozens of options at $3.99, and the prices go up gradually from there. You and your children should be able to find lots of exciting titles at any price range.
You can choose to have your book order shipped directly to your home for the standard shipping cost. However, you can also choose to have your order combined with others as a single batch that gets sent to a single address, where the organizer and PTCO volunteers will separate and organize them for local pickup or delivery to your home. This option may add a few more days to your delivery time, but we're making every effort to have all orders delivered by Easter.
If you have any other questions regarding this book fair, please don't hesitate to contact us!