Friday, December 05, 2008

Got Books?

Every December and May, Scholastic Books holds a HUGE warehouse sale for teachers in appreciation for them participating in book orders.  Remember getting book orders in school and how affordable the books were.  Well take the book order price and cut it in half and that's what you get at the warehouse sale.  It is THE PLACE to stock up on books.

People who see my library often wonder how I could afford so many books, well now you know my secret.  What's that?  You are not a teacher.  Well, neither am I so I never registered for the sales online. Even though my friends swore that they didn't care if you were actually a teacher, I always went to the door and told them that I am not a teacher, I just love children's books and they always said I was still welcome at the sale, but I did have to register online and they would sit me down at a computer in their office and have me fill out the online registration form.  They told me to just register as a home schooler.  The form asks you for a school address so they just told me to put "home" as the name of my school and my home address.  They said the registration is just for marketing purposes so they can let you know when the next sale is.  After going through that at every sale for years, I now feel comfortable just filling the form out online, and bonus, when you register online, you will get a coupon for $10 off of a $50 purchase.

If that's not enough to make you feel comfortable, note that I went to this sale this morning (a Friday morning when teachers would be in school teacher) 
and the warehouse was packed with shoppers.

Now, it's not like a Barnes and Noble, this sale made up of books from book orders and book fairs. They sell the rest of already open cartons so you never quite know what titles you will find, but you can be sure they will be a bargain.  

The newest releases are only 25% off of the Scholastic price, but that is still a fantastic deal.
My camera battery is dead so I have no photos, but be aware that this sale is in a functioning warehouse, not a good spot for kids to play, and you will be going up and down rows of enormous metal shelves of open cartons of books (although the Sandy sale was much more organized than the ones I went to in Ohio and employees seemed to know exactly where titles are located if you have questions).

Here are just I few of the titles that I spotted today that I highly recommend.
Picture books
Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt (this book is only out in hardback in regular stores, but they had a paperback version at 25% off, which made it only $3.00)
The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems
I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry (this is another book that is only available in paperback through Scholastic)

Early reader
I am Invited to a Party by Mo Willems

Middle Grade Fiction
The 39 clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

12 comments:

TX Girl said...

I go to this event TWICE a year. I'm not a teacher either, but like you have always been welcome.

It is something EVERYONE should take advantage of. I buy in bulk (15 copies each of Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus and Knuffle Bunny). I give them as birthday gifts throughout the year.

I love that you can get paperback versions of stories.

I'm headed there on Tuesday. Anything you would recommend? Will you email me suggestions?

Alissa said...

I go every time they have a sale. Which would explain why my kids' bookcase is overflowing. The last time I went, I spent over $100. Over $100 for $3 or less books... Yeah, we have a lot of books.

Anonymous said...

I loooove the Scholastic Book Sales. I went to them all the time when I was in college and I was really stocked up when I started teaching. Then of course I still kept going and buying from the book orders. I miss going to these sales and buying from book orders!

Anonymous said...

Also! A principal in my old school district does a big review of all the new christmas books every year. They have the BYU bookstore come and sell the books there after his "book talk" slide show thing. My sis went yesterday and posted about some of the books on her blog. You may already be familiar with a lot of them but thought you might want to read it. http://www.slicesoflight.com/heidi/?p=327

Amy @ OurScoop said...

Sounds GREAT! Can't wait to go check it out! Thanks for the tip!

Amy said...

I've signed up for the Texas one but have yet to actually go to one yet. Now I think I will.

I am Laura said...

sadly there is not a warehouse sale anywhere near me anymore. I always got Christmas books at the sale and gave them as gifts to friends.

This week we decided to give some of our toys (that still look good) to charities. My husband said "choose some books too, we have too many." I went through all our shelves and only found a two or three I could part with. I wish my library looked like yours, but maybe one day.

The Jensen Family said...

They are having one this week in Austin! I have my elbows greased and my bag ready to go---

Tenay Jo said...

thanks for letting me know about this! Kallen loves books and I can't wait to check this sale out. I might go crazy and spend too much. Hurray for book sales!

Lower Fam said...

Ford Fam,
I saw your blog from Kamiko's and wanted to give you guys a shout out! How are you? Your little guy is darling. Hope everything is going well. We miss the good times in Columbus.

--Jamie Lower

MeganRuth said...

Well if you were a nerdy librarian like me, you not only hear about the scholastic warehouse sale, but you get to have your own book fair at your school. I just finished my book fair... it was crazy busy, but good times as well. With fabulous prices.

Anyway, the point of my comment is that everyone should read "Scaredy Squirrel." It is absolutely hilarious and I love it!

Kiki said...

Thanks for posting about this, Steph! I actually went to one in Central Ohio (Grove City) yesterday after work and bought 15 new books for my kids. I never would have know about it without you! Hope you're well! Give hugs to Larry and Creed for me!