Students still remember how it felt: walking through their elementary library to see the different genres of books on the shelves while on the other side of the room it contains silly notebooks, pens, pencils, and toys that excited many. Elementary students waiting for their class to be called, excited with money and checks in their hands to purchase their own books and see what toys they may add to the side as well to buy. Those same students entered middle school and began their high school years missing such a loved event. With the help of Ms. Chaca and her book club, they were able to bring the first ever Scholastic book fair to PPCHS.
Ms. Chaca presented multiple events to the board members for the club to organize, and the scholastic book fair being one of them. This idea specifically caught the eye of their president, Hannah Ikner. “The idea for the book fair really stuck with me because it reminded me of the ones we had in elementary school,” Hannah said, only realizing a few weeks prior to the event that this would be the first ever book fair at PPCHS.
While Scholastic sent them their books, supplies, shelf, and many other necessities to fully construct the book fair itself, Ikner gives her thanks to Ms. Chava and Ms. Martinez, who helped in setting up the event and transferring everything into the [room]. Hannah mainly assisted “every morning to help restock [the shelves] and put out the supplies.” Hannah also helped with handing out volunteer sheets for the students who donated books. Most of their difficulty was in finding the perfect dates to host the event, as in the beginning they “originally planned on doing the book fair the week during St’ Patrick’s. So, last minute we scheduled the book fair a week after spring break; it was the only week we could do due to all the testing coming up,” Hannah explained.
Many of the PPCHS students who explored the books, walking around with friends as recurring memories arose from seeing their childhood-favorite books on the shelves, a lot of them found their interest from the fun and silly pens behind the cashiers. Many students enjoyed observing the fun pens, fidgets, and toys that they could purchase. Hannah noticed that “a lot of the students said that the toys reminded them of the Scholastic book fair. [It] brought them lots of nostalgia [from elementary].”
From all the books that were donated by the students, all donations will be delivered to the Children’s Harbor, which is more specifically a welfare organization. “What I love about Children’s Harbor is that their foster system makes sure the children are safe and don’t separate siblings,” Hannah described, adding her reasoning to why she decided to donate the books is because “every child deserves the privilege of reading.” Reading has been seen as a way to escape reality and travel into the dimension of the book’s crevices, going in between the lines to live in a different world, and helps the children expand their knowledge.
As PPCHS’ first Scholastic book fair comes to a close, the board members come out proud of their accomplishments and making a mark in jaguar history. Ikner and her members come out proud and ecstatic for where the books will be going to, and “knowing that these books will go to children struggling to find safe homes make me feel very proud to be donating them.” Each book will be handed to a child, who will be able to find a new loveable hobby, and perhaps find their next exhilarating season. Wherever the pages turn for the book’s club next chapter, this was a chapter worth reading.
