Fall 2020 Virtual Book Fair
We know not much looks the same right now. But what is the same is that children need consistency and we consistently hear that our favorite events of the year are the Scholastic Book Fairs! While we can't have an in-person fair right now, we have partnered with Scholastic to put together a great event to get new books into the hands of our students. So kick-back, relax, and order up some books from the comfort of your home and let them take you anywhere!
Frequently Asked Questions:
- When is the fair? The virtual book fair will be open from October 2nd - October 15th
- Will there be in-person shopping, like normal? No, due to the school closures, Scholastic is only offering a virtual option at this time. But the good news is that the fair never closes! You can shop, at your convenience, 24 hours a day between 10/2 and 10/15.
- If I do not shop in-person, how will I get my books? Great news! All orders will ship directly to your home so you can use the fair to shop for books to use now or you can even save them for holiday gifting since you would not have to hide your purchases from your students at school!
- How much is shipping? More great news! Shipping to your home is COMPLETELY FREE...but this comes with a few strings attached:
- Your order MUST contain over $25 worth of books or reading materials.
- In order for Scholastic to get reasonable shipping rates, they are utilizing a deal through the US Postal Service to get these books into the hands of young readers for no additional shipping cost to families. The requirement for free shipping is that your order CAN ONLY CONTAIN reading material!!
- What if I have $25 worth of books in my cart but I add other things like face masks or pencils to my order? Sorry, due to the limitations of the agreement with the USPS, orders will only ship for free if they only contain reading materials. Anything additional (regardless of total purchase price or number of books) will cause the order to incur shipping charges.
- What about journals and diaries? This one is tricky (we are sorry it is so confusing!). It seems some journals qualify while others do not. The product page on our Scholastic Fair website will clearly tell you if it is eligible to ship for free or not.
- This is very confusing, is there an easy way to figure out what items ship for free? We are so sorry, the limitations of the USPS media rate are a bit convoluted (it's like the tax code!) but there is an easy way to figure it all out. On the product page for each item there is a clear indicator of eligibility for free shipping. (See the purple circles on the images below) While you are clicking around our virtual fair, you will be able to easily determine what will ship for free or not.
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A Non-Book Item That Counts for Free Shipping
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A Non-Book Item That DOES NOT Count for Free Shipping
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- Can I still order items that are not eligible for free shipping and have them shipped to my house? Of course! If it is available online, you can have it shipped to you (and benefit the school fundraiser) but you would have to pay the shipping fee. We would recommend making 2 separate purchases if you would like books and other items so that your books will ship for free and your other items can be charged separately for their shipping.
- Does this benefit the school? Yes! For every purchase that you (or family and friends) make during our fair dates, 25% is given back to the school as a fundraiser. Just make sure you are logged in to your account and the yellow banner at the top of your shopping page says "Scholastic will give back 25% in rewards to BALLANTYNE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL when you shop OCT 2 – OCT 15."
- Can only Ballantyne Elementary students shop the fair? No! Anyone can shop the fair and have books shipped to their home (or yours). Sending the link out to family and friends is a great way to help the school and also give great gift ideas for holiday gifting for your students!
- Will there be other fairs during the year? We sure hope so! We still plan on offering our Spring book fair, although we do not yet know if this would be an in-person or online-only event.
- Why is a book fair important? Besides giving back to the school and adding a bit of consistency to your child's school year, a book fair and its new books will make children excited to read and practice their skills. Just take a look at this chart for how important it is for them to open up a book for at least 20 minutes per day:
Ready to shop?
