Going to school five days a week was like having a full time, 40 hour a week job. To make matters even worse, we never even got paid for our time. We just had sit there and learn. Ugh. Then we would get homework to do in our free time, have to write book reports, and study for tests.

Thankfully, there was one place that allowed us to feel at peace, and that was the Scholastic Book Fair. Our schools would annually indulge us in bringing the books of our dreams to our classrooms.  Not only could we check before ourselves how we felt about the books, but there was only the exciting pencils, erasers and glorious bookmarks.

Just the smell itself of those new books was unbeatable. The only thing better than one new book is an entire room full of new new books. Everything was so organized and fresh, and it was incredibly satisfying to flip through all the stacks of books.  Every pile was like a mountain of treasures.

The fair had something for everyone, whether it be poems, nonsensical stories, spooky stories or classic favorites.  Even if we didn’t have enough birthday money saved up for some books, the extras were always just as exciting.

And how could we forget the posters? They were surely a pain to carry all the way back home, but a book fair poster was basically a right of passage, and was an thrilling challenge to keep it from getting crumpled throughout the day.

The Scholastic Book Fair will forever and always be one of the greatest experience of elementary school. Agreed?