Middle School Book Sale

Generates Enthusiasm

By Jeff White

Harry Potter just refused to stay put on the tables.

But that mesmerizing magician, the central character of three of the most successful books in print today, was not alone: dozens of characters and hundreds of books found their way into the eager hands of middle school students during the PTA’s annual book sale this week.

Students milled up and down the four large tables that were set up in the middle school’s library, glancing at hardcover and paperback offerings from almost every literary genre: nonfiction, fiction, poetry, art, even history. They all had the opportunity to gravitate to their favorite types of books.

“I like nonfiction, because you can actually imagine it,” confided Wes Steinfeld, a seventh-grader, who was in the library with two of his classmates.

“It is more exciting to read nonfiction,” added Devon Manfredonia.

Ann Marie Schriever prefers the realms of fiction and art. “Sometime I like fantasy and craft books, like [books on] clay and drawing,” the sixth grader said.

Students had choices. Some walked away with current bestsellers, like Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha, while others amassed a stock of Maya Angelou, Mark Twain and Henry James. Roald Dahl, of James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame, also proved a suitable alternative to the Harry Potter craze, which volunteers concluded was the biggest seller.

 The PTA gets the selections from Scholastic Books and Kids Books, large warehouse stores based in Monroe. These book distribution centers specialize in supplying books to different book sales at schools throughout Newtown and outlying areas.

Books were sold slightly cheaper to students, who often had to bring in checks or money from parents to pay for their favorite titles.

Being the only middle school PTA fund-raiser for the year, money earned during the book sale is naturally channeled back into the school, bolstering yearly activities that need extra funding.

This year’s book sale proceeds will help sponsor a civil war reenactment, a ballroom dancing program, a garden to be planted inside the school’s horseshoe, a new cultural arts program, and the annual teacher appreciation break and luncheon.

Sixty volunteers gave their time to staff the book sale. Besides helping students with their selections, the parents were charged with keeping track of inventory; when a title started to run low, additional orders were made to replenish stocks.

“Things are going great. People are buying a lot of books,” the book sale chairman Diane Malloy said Tuesday. “It has been really fun, seeing the kids go through the books, and talking about the books, and getting excited about buying the books. It is really great.”

Mrs Malloy acknowledged that besides the Harry Potter books, the Animorphs series and the Guinness Book of World Records were also popular among students.

Middle school students were not the only patrons scanning the library this week; high school students came over after school, teachers passed through during breaks, and even some people from off the streets stopped in, having heard about the sale through word-of-mouth.

The sale, which concluded this week, will also take place in varying forms at Newtown’s elementary schools as well as the high school in the months to come.

It was Mrs Malloy’s first year running the sale. Being a mother, she knows how important it is to have young children reading. “I enjoy trying to point kids to good, quality books,” she said. “I like book stores, and my children enjoy reading. I go to the book store and pick out award-winning books and give them to my kids, and they will be glued to the books for three days.”

Wes Steinfeld understood the allure of being held captive by a book. He said, “Sometimes when I have nothing to do, I can open a fresh book, and it will occupy me.”