Get ready Cameron, because the Scholastic Book Fair is coming to town. Book fairs help students and teachers find new and popular books they wouldn’t normally go out and buy for themselves. There are annual fall and spring book fairs in Cameron schools. This spring it is March 21-25. Every year there is a good turn-out for these events and this year should be no different.

CMS Librarian Mrs. Jane Rainey said, “We usually have a fairly good turn out--a lot of children come each year.” With all these students participating, the school is able to raise  money to buy books. “The students can donate money and Scholastic matches the money and donates up to a million books each year to literacy groups and disaster victims; so the money that gets donated in the classroom is used to buy books for that classroom and then scholastic gives books to other classrooms.” When students buy books and donate money, everyone benefits in more ways than one. First, it promotes literacy and a love of reading and the teachers benefit as well.

Fifth Grade teacher Mrs. Amy Gunn said, “Yes I do [buy books for the classroom]. They have this program called ‘Books for One’. The students can bring in a dollar, and we can contribute to the ‘Books for One’ jar. Whatever we contribute the book fair matches, and we usually use that money to buy classroom books for the kids.” A lot of teachers get their books this way. With the price of books today this program makes it a lot easier to get more things the students will read. “Kids use the books daily. They use them for any reading class. Also, in any free time they have available they’re able to go and pick something off the shelf,” Mrs. Gunn explained. The Parkview and Middle School children aren’t the only one who like the book fair. High school kids remember how much they used to love the book fair, too.

Sophomore Perrin Reeves said, “I used to really like the book fair when it came to town. There were some books that I found there that I wouldn’t have been able to find otherwise. I also just like going to places other than libraries to find books I didn’t know existed.” A lot of the high school kids feel the same way about going to the book fair. It was a chance for them to get good books.

Book fairs are a good way to get students into reading. Whether it’s through the teacher buying classroom books or the students themselves getting personal reading books, the book fair is an easy way to get good books. Not only does the book fair help the schools every year with programs, but they also help communities in need. This is a noble cause, no doubt, so next time the books fair comes around, send some money with your kid to buy a book or help a cause in need. Who knows, your child might actually find a book you’ll want to read, too?!