Like children’s book celebrities Narwhal and Jelly or Pizza and Taco, the Harvard Public Schools Parent Teacher Organization and The Silver Unicorn Bookstore may have forged a perfect friendship. This year, PTO organizers broke away from the traditional book fair supplier, Scholastic Books, to partner with the independent bookstore that opened its doors in West Acton four years ago. So far, they couldn’t be happier with the results.
The PTO-sponsored book fair is held annually the week after Thanksgiving in the Harvard Elementary School library. Students in grades pre-K to 5 visit the fair during their regularly scheduled library time, and it is open to families during parent-teacher conferences on Wednesday that week.
Andrew Oliver dives into a new book at the book fair. (Photos by Jen Manell)
For years, the PTO partnered with Scholastic Books, which runs thousands of book fairs across the U.S. each year. The organization received promotional materials, toolkits, and display cases, making fair setup a no-brainer. But there was a downside.
Too many nonbook offerings
Sale organizer Ellin Wade told the Press parents complained about the number of nonbook offerings that drew their kids’ attention and money away from books. Selections were limited, and the company tended to send the same books every year. Schools had little control over what books they received.
Last year, Wade said, she and the other two organizers, Abir Lattouf and Sowmya Sampige, decided it was time for a change. There weren’t a lot of local options, but they reached out to The Silver Unicorn, and owner Paul Swydan responded right away. Swydan has been supplying local book fairs since his store opened in 2018, and he currently does about a dozen a year.
Titles tailored to each school
The process is tailored to each school, Swydan said. He creates a list of books, focusing on new titles, then sends the list to the PTO for input. Wade said she received Swydan’s list about six weeks ago and made some deletions based on categories of books that didn’t sell well in previous years, such as adult books. Organizers also consulted with school librarian Marybeth Quaadgras, and she added the Pizza and Taco books because of their popularity at HES.
The end result was 215 titles, which Swydan delivered to the school early Monday morning. Wade said the Scholastic fair setup typically took a full day, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This year, the setup, which Swydan helped with, took only two hours. Gone were the metal display cases. In their place were tables of books, neatly organized by reading level and category. Swydan told the Press organizers sometimes get nervous about how the books will look on tables instead of Scholastic’s upright cases, but their anxiety quickly disappears once they see how inviting the stacks of books are. “The books do the talking,” he said.
Also gone this year are the tables full of trinkets and posters. There are a few containers with squishy carrot-shaped pens and the like, what organizers called “a tasteful selection,” but for the most part, it’s all about the books. Wade said the organizers and the librarian were impressed with the quality of the selections. They were not the only ones; the Press was visiting while a class of third-graders perused the offerings, and no one left empty-handed.
Swydan said he chooses books that are 90 to 95% new for a school because he wants to make sure kids are getting the latest books. This is the first fair he is doing for Harvard, but if the PTO partners with him again next year, he’d be bringing mostly new selections. He said he would be returning the following day to bring the latest Cat Kid Comic Club book by Dav Pilkey, which just came out. He also brings books that continue to be bestsellers, like “Minecraft Combat Handbook.” Although the subject matter is a video game, he’s fine with it. “It has a lot of text,” he said.
John Derse (left) and Hayes Boeckelman peruse the selection of books at the Harvard Schools PTO/Silver Unicorn book fair on Monday, Nov. 28.
Swydan said he understands why Scholastic operates differently than he does. They run so many sales it makes sense for them to buy thousands of the same book. But the fairs are not a profit vehicle for his store; they’re more of a marketing tool. He said if he can get 400 Silver Unicorn bookmarks into kids’ hands at a book fair, that could translate into 10 to 20 new customers. And he likes being a good community partner.
As is the case with most goods this year, Swydan said book prices have gone up. But he said no book at the fair is priced higher than $19.99, because most kids bring a $20 bill to spend. The average book costs about $10, but there are $5 books as well. Despite the price increase, sales appeared to be brisk the first day, but customers were being cautious as well. As two boys contemplated a book on the Loch Ness monster, one said, “My mom would never let me buy this; too many pictures.”
