Thank You for Choosing Blue Ribbon Book Fairs!

Since we founded the company nearly a decade ago, we’ve tried to offer high quality/high interest children’s literature at prices everyone can afford.

Blue Ribbon Reading serves a dual purpose – promote literacy and raise money for our community non-profit partners. Money raised by our events fund library projects & provides resources not otherwise budgeted in these challenging times. Literacy is encouraged by literally surrounding kids with thousands of books (fiction and non-fiction) in a fun environment where multiple generations gather to find books that they love.

Blue Ribbon is proud to be local and family owned. By working with local businesses, you improve your community, help your neighbors, expand your access to different publishers, and encourage future generations to remain in our hometowns.

Don’t forget, we now offer SciZooka STEM Shops. SciZooka makes Learning a Blast by bringing high quality STEM focused books and activity kits to your school in a shoppable format. Find out more at SciZooka.com!

 

Contact Information:

service@blueribbonbookfairs.com

888-883-4719

www.Readola.com

Book Fair Check List (Suggestions for a great event)

LINK to Blue Ribbon Forms Page 

4-6 MONTHS BEFORE EVENT 

_____   Confirm Your Book Fair dates with your Blue Ribbon Books local representative.

_____   Confirm your Book Fair dates on the master school calendar along with Book Fair location and location needs.

_____   Schedule an author, illustrator or special reading event to coordinate with the book fair.

 

 2-3 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT

_____   Meet with your Book Fair Committee and Staff to plan the fair.

_____   Assign Volunteers to work the Book Fair.

_____   Plan a Family Night during the week of the Book Fair. Send Blue Ribbon the details you want on your Parent Flyer (Dates/Times/Location/Special Info)

 

1-2 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT

_____   Announce your Book Fair in your school newsletter and/or through email.

_____   Prepare your Marketing Plan to maximize the participation of students, teachers, faculty, staff, parents and your local community. More Sales = More Books!!!

_____   Plan your promotional activities (raffles/giveaways, writing contests, read-a-thons, etc)

_____   Circulate a Volunteer sign up sheet at a PTA/PTO meeting for volunteers to assist with the Book Fair.

 

1-2 WEEKS BEFORE THE EVENT

_____   PROMOTE THE BOOK FAIR!!! Announce the Book Fair in the School Newsletter, School Email system, School Marquee, Deliver Press Releases to local newspapers, Hang Posters, Distribute Email flyers, Display Banners, Promote, Promote, Promote…More Promotion = More Books!!!

_____   Confirm Book Fair Location & Confirm Family Night Details.

_____   Prepare your volunteer work schedule for the Book Fair.

_____   Send the “Book Fair Take Home Flyer” home with each student promoting the upcoming Book Fair.

_____   Display all promotional materials (posters, flyers, banners, etc) around campus promoting the upcoming Book Fair. Your local Blue Ribbon representative will provide you with all needed materials at no cost to you!

_____   Hold classroom contests to receive free Book Fair gift certificates. 

_____   Pass out Teacher Discount cards. 

_____   Email prepay gift certificate (e-wallet) links to all households. 

ONE DAY BEFORE THE BOOK FAIR BEGINS

_____   Blue Ribbon Representative will deliver and set up your Book Fair!

_____   Make sure that location is cleared out, and tables are available.

_____   Blue Ribbon Representative will deliver all needed supplies included in your “supply pack”.

_____   Hold Book Talk(s) to Highlight the Book Fair to students.

 

 BOOK FAIR DAY ONE

_____   Enjoy the EXCITEMENT that you have created for your School!

_____   Begin the class “viewing tours” of the Book Fair. Have each student complete their “Student Wish List” form to take home for the parents to review.

_____   Have all Teachers select their “Wish List” books. DO NOT TAPE OR WRITE ON BOOKS!

_____   Send home “Family Night” promotional flyer with each student promoting the Book Fair for the whole family to attend!

 

 DURING THE BOOK FAIR

_____   Continue to promote the Book Fair!

_____   Keep Book Fair neat and organized.

_____   Fill out “Daily Sales Summary” report at the end of each day (If necessary per district policy).

 

 CLOSING THE BOOK FAIR

_____   Clear out all items that are “on hold” and any “IOU’s”

_____   Inform teachers of “wish list” titles not purchased. REMEMBER – YOUR STAFF GETS A DISCOUNT ON THEIR PURCHASES. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO RECORD THE STAFF DISCOUNT TOTALS ON THE FINAL RECONCILIATION REPORT.

_____   Calculate all sales totals & complete the “FINAL SALES REPORT”

_____   Your Blue Ribbon Representative will come pack up the Book Fair, clean the location, take down decorations, and return any tables that were used. We do the hard work for you!

_____   DON’T FORGET TO SCHEDULE NEXT YEAR’S BOOK FAIR!

Useful Forms are on the Blue Ribbon Book Fairs website)

• Rewards Form
• Final Sales Worksheet (Reconciliation Report)
• Volunteer Sign Up Sheet and Schedule
• Wishlists
• Clip Art & Theme Ideas

Location for the Book Fair

You provide a great location and a few tables, and Blue Ribbon Books will do all of the hard work for you!

We recommend a large room to host a great Book Fair. Successful locations include a library, multi-purpose room, the cafeteria, gymnasium, or a large classroom. Your Blue Ribbon Representative will review all possible locations with you and together we will design the perfect Book Fair!

We customize our Book Fairs to best suit your location. Even if you only have a small space available, we can tailor our event to fit any location.

You provide a great location, and 6 to 8 tables and we do the rest!

Book Fair Helpers

Try to recruit a small dedicated committee of volunteers to help execute and run your Book Fair.

Blue Ribbon Books does all of the heavy lifting, delivery of goods, Book Fair “Set-up”, Book Fair “Tear-Down”, delivers all promotional materials, and all supplies needed to run your event.  

We simply ask that you prepare a small committee of “book lovers” to have a great time running the book fair once it is set up, and help keep the event organized for the duration of the event.

We suggest the following as a perfect committee:

•  2-3people to serve on the planning & marketing committee (possibly a media specialist, a teacher, and a PTA/PTO volunteer)
•  As many as 2-4 volunteers to work the cash registers, help with keeping the fair organized, re-stocked, and to assist the students with their “wish lists” and purchases.
•  1 volunteer to be responsible for the money, and preparing all “daily sales summary” reports.

TIPS

•  Search for volunteers at a PTO/PTA meeting
•  Post sign up sheets in the school office
•  Send a request form home with the students to get parents involved with the program.
•  Advertise in your school newsletter for volunteers
•  Ask teacher’s aids, or room parents to assist.

Building Excitement

The key to a FANTASTIC Book Fair is creating tremendous excitement among teachers, students, parents and additional excitement that you can create within your community!

Generate Excitement Among Students & Teachers:

•  Plan events that everyone participates in like a Staff & Parent Story Telling Program.
•  Have contests to win Book Fair Gift Certificates (raffles, writing contests, Jelly bean jar, Book Report Contests, etc.)
•  Schedule a Book Signing & Reading assembly with an author. and/or illustrator (Blue Ribbon Books Can help you with this!)
•  Schedule Book Talks with a guest speaker.
•  Send home promotional flyers and Book Lists promoting the upcoming Book Fair.
•  Schedule classroom previews on the first day of the Book Fair.

REMEMBER – YOU STAFF GETS A DISCOUNT ON THEIR PURCHASES. PLEASE MAKE SURE TO RECORD THE STAFF DISCOUNT TOTALS ON THE FINAL RECONCILIATION REPORT.

Generate Excitement Among the Parents!

•  Plan a “Parent Night” during the week of the Book Fair!
•  Properly promote the Book Fair and Parent Night with our “Back Pack Stuffers” – Send home these promotional materials with the students every week for 4-5 weeks prior to the Book Fair.
•  Send out announcements about the Book Fair in the school newspaper and post the announcements on the school website.
•  Promote the “Pages for All Ages” reading program that comes with the Blue Ribbon Book Fair – this will support family reading, and parent involvement!
•  Recruit parent volunteers to assist in your Book Fair!

Generate Excitement In Your Community!

Involving your community with your Book Fair is the best way to increase your sales and your school’s profit! Blue Ribbon Books will provide you with sample “press releases”, additional banners, posters, etc to help you in this promotional effort, all at NO COST TO YOU!

PRO TIP – Ask local businesses to donate gift certificates to teachers and students. Post their names/contact info at the fair for everyone to see. Create custom gift certificates with the businesses names listed.

We want your Book Fair experience to be as exciting and as profitable as possible! Some additional ideas to involve the community are:

•  Send a Press Release to your local newspaper(s).
•  Announce your Book Fair on the school marquee.
•  Hang the Blue Ribbon Books Banners around the school, and throughout the community.
•  Adopt another school in the neighborhood to participate in your Book Fair.

Book Fair Hours of Operation:

We suggest that the Book Fair is always open during school hours and 1 hour before and 1 hour after school. Always keep the book fair running during lunch time and during recess.

Evening Programs with Parent & Community Involvement:

Always plan to have the Book Fair open for one evening that features a parent night, family night, or community night. The following programs are always a huge success:

•  Family night (ice cream social, pizza party, family pot luck or barbeque) These socials are always a big hit!
•  Community “Read In” event .
•  Book Signing Night with an author or illustrator.
•  Story Time Event with a local celebrity reader.

Book Talk – “The Book Fair Is Coming!”

Nominate a “Book Talk” person to present some great titles available at the book fair for each grade level. This book talk can be presented to each class individually, or to each grade as a group. This is a fun event that will create a lot of excitement!

Classroom Previews:

The classroom preview is a very effective way to create excitement for the book fair. On the first day of the fair schedule each classroom for a 15-20 minute preview of the Book Fair. Give each student a “Wish List” so they can write down the titles they wish to purchase. They can share this with their parents for approval, so the parents can send the appropriate money to school with their child for their purchases. (See the “Student Wish List” in the forms section).

School, Teacher & Librarian Wish List:

Publish a complete wish list of titles that are needed for your school. This would include titles for classrooms, the library, or for special associated groups of the school. Parents and/or students can purchase these titles and donate them to the school on their behalf. Each one of these purchases will be stamped and receive a Blue Ribbon Bookplate indicating who donated it. (Always select wish list titles in a wide price range so everyone can afford to participate). This is a great way to increase sales, while having great books donated to your school!

Here are examples of some great ideas for you to try!

Books Placed in Baskets                     Slips with Titles/Teacher        Full Sheets with Titles Listed

ITEMS YOUR SCHOOL WILL NEED TO PROVIDE:

•  The Best possible location for the Book Fair
•  6-8 tables to assist in our display
•  Great promotion of the upcoming Book Fair
•  Volunteers to work the book fair as it is in progress

PLEASE TELL EVERYONE… DO NOT TAPE ANYTHING TO THE COVER OF A BOOK, OR WRITE ON THE BOOK (EVEN ON THE PRICE LABELS)

Operation of Your Book Fair

Security at the Book Fair is a very important issue for your Volunteers and Planning Committee to be aware of.  

To prevent theft at your Book Fair, we suggest the following: 

•  Have one entrance/exit to the Book Fair. Have a volunteer stationed at the entrance to manage traffic flow and crowd control.

•  Have designated volunteers to work the cash register(s), and other volunteers to “work the floor” of the Book Fair. The Book Fair gets too busy for a single volunteer to manage both. The more visible adult security at the Book Fair, the better!
  

•  Display all impulse items, creative fun displays, and most popular displays near the check out station, and away from the exit, where they can be easily supervised.

•  Keep an eye out for theft and damaging of products.

•  During classroom visits, give the students an orientation on Book Fair Behavior:

o  Be careful when handling the books, careful not to damage the products during the visit.

o  Put books away where they found them.

o  Use the “Wish List” form to write down selections. Do not write on the books.

 Have a safe and successful Book Fair!!                   

WORK THE FLOOR 

•  Help students make their selections.
•  Keep the Book Fair neat and organized.
•  Make sure the students use the “wish list” forms, and PLEASE do not allow students to write on the books.
•  Note items that need restocked on the “re-stock” report
•  Crowd Control – only allow as many students into the book fair that you can comfortably oversee.
•  Have a visible presence and watch for theft.
•  Make sure students leave backpacks, bags, and jackets outside of the Book Fair.
•  At the end of the day, fax or email the re-stock report to your local BLUE RIBBON representative, to re-stock sold out items.

 

WORKING THE REGISTER

•  Properly work the cash register, credit card machine, etc.
•  At the end of the day complete the “Daily Sales Summary” form (if required).
•  On the last day of the Book Fair, complete the “Final Reconciliation Report” form and have the Book Fair Chairperson sign to confirm the totals. REMEMBER to keep Teacher Discount Totals separate.

Note: Older students can make great volunteers on the floor; however, please only use adult volunteers to work the register. 

Prices should be marked on the book. If there is no visible tag, use the retail publisher’s price on the book.

Blue Ribbon Books gladly accepts Cash, School Checks, Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Purchase Orders, and Blue Ribbon Gift Certificates. All personal checks should be made payable to your school, and then one school check made out to Blue Ribbon Book Fairs for the total amount. (please see the enclosed Money & Banking policies for details on each method of payment).

At the end of each day, have a volunteer count the money in the register, and complete the “Daily Sales Summary” report. This will give you a detailed accounting of the sales activity for the day.

Wrapping Up Your Book Fair

 At the conclusion of the Book Fair the volunteer in charge of the money will complete the Final Reconciliation Report (School Rewards Report) which will constitute the final sales figures and banking figures for the Book Fair. Once this is agreed to by the Book Fair Chairperson, then all School Profit calculations can be made by completing the Reconciliation Report (School Rewards Report).

During the Book Fair

•  Make Daily Announcements.
•  Continue Book Talks.
•  Updated teachers on the progress of their Wish Lists.
•  Send home reminders.
•  Make sure to involve the principal in the book fair.

Book Fair Financials

• Organize all Banking/Monies and Complete Summary Worksheet.
• Have your Book Profit selections recorded and set aside before we arrive to pack up your fair.
• Inform Teachers of Wish List titles not purchased. REMEMBER Teachers are eligible for a discount on their purchases – remember to record those discounted purchases for the Final Reconciliation Report.
• Clear out all “IOU’s” and “Holds” items.
• Take down all posters, flyers and banners and place with Book Fair items to be packed up. We try to reuse all items if possible.
• Schedule next year’s Book Fair Date!

CONGRATULATIONS ON A GREAT BOOK FAIR!

Blue Ribbon Books prides itself on doing all of the hard work for you! We hope that you have enjoyed the event!

We would love to hear your comments, suggestions and ideas on how to better serve you and your fund-raising needs for the future. We invite you to email us at service@brbookfairs.com anytime as we are always trying to improve our programs!

Thank you for choosing Blue Ribbon Books for your School Book Fair!

www.Readola.com 

Toll Free Customer Service: 1-888-883-4719 Customer Service Email: service@brbookfairs.com 

Readola offers personalized parent letters, posters and other important material to make your event a success. Online Form to calculate sales (Final Sales Report)

Please contact us for an Excel Version

Here are some other important links

   

For those wishing to conduct a virtual book fair, details are included below. Having trouble reading this on your phone? Here's a text only version. Please contact us for a PDF.

      

      

    

    

    

Frequently asked questions about Readola and Classroom Connections

Why can't I see any books listed? How do I know what books are included in the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection?

We ask that everyone register to access the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection. Once your account has been verified, you will have 100% access to all titles, updates of new lists, unlimited Reading Roadmaps and complimentary customer support.

How much does it cost our school to use the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection?

All Readola Book Fairs and Book-A-Thons include complimentary access to the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection!

Is Readola owned by a publishing company? How do we know your recommendations are unbiased?

Readola has zero financial interest in any title listed. Readola owns none of the titles listed, so all recommendations are unbiased and based on a specific criteria.

Why do you use Lexiles for grouping reading levels?

Lexiles are a widely used method, easily convertible into other standards. Instead of broad age groupings, Readola aims to provide students and their families with targeted recommendations. If you prefer to select titles by grade level, or another assessment type, feel free to use our handy Conversion Chart. 

 What age groups is Readola geared towards?

All age groups. More importantly, all reading levels. 

Our school is going to all digital format. How does that work with Readola?

Titles in the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection are commonly available via electronic format. Widely used ebook services likely have most titles available. How do you raise money with ebooks in your book fair? Ask for a small donation per book or per hour read. Donation Portal

Are there any non-fiction titles?

The Blue Ribbon Awards Collection, the titles Readola is based on, features numerous non-fiction and STEM related books. Included are the National Science Teacher's Association top STEM titles.

My students don't like what they consider "heavy literature". What's available for them?

One of the many advantages of Readola is the broad selection for all interests and abilities. Do your student's like graphic novels? There's a large selection of the best. Non-fiction, too.

My school isn't interested in adopting Readola right now. Can I adopt Readola for just my classroom?

Absolutely. Classroom Connections is our teacher focused program that allows you to feature the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection while earning credit for individual classrooms. A topflight curriculum that is self funding!

What are Donation Dogs? How are they different than gift certificates?

Gift certificates are an opportunity for family (or sponsors) to purchase a book for their student. And remember, every book is an award nominee! Donation Dogs are a way for families and community organizations to make a contribution to the school for literacy improvement. 

 

 How does our school make Readola self funding curriculum?

Readola brings in outside money by encouraging willing sponsors to purchase gift certificates for students to purchase books (via virtual book fairs or Classroom Connections) from the Blue Ribbon Awards Collection. Sponsors can also make donations based on hours read or books read - even ebooks! Readola provides your group a customized landing page with an introduction and instructions. There's zero cost to set up your school!

We're already running a book fair.

No problem! Readola doesn't require your school to work with us exclusively. Because Readola features a specific set of award nominated titles - a set that likely doesn't appear on your current book fair - our book fairs are a great addition to the commercial heavy book fair you're currently supporting. More options for your staff, students and their families!