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First of all, I should say upfront that this post is not an assessment of the merits and demerits of Big Noodle Books. Maybe I'm off the mark, but I think it's really more about fear and subsequent institutional paralysis...

In my middle school, we had parent conferences last night. They're usually good events for staging book fairs, especially in the fall when the building still smells like new clothes and attitudes towards education are at peak freshness.

I did a Scholastic Book Fair in the Fall--and I'm glad I did--because, within a month, what was left of our meager budget had already been frozen.

Nothing against Scholastic Book Fairs, but I don't like to go to that well more than once a year so, as spring approached, I started exploring alternative fundraising options. We have a Barnes & Noble about 15 miles from here, so I met with them and talked about staging a book fair entirely in their store. You probably know how that works: you do what you can to drive your school community to the store on a given evening or two and you get a cut of whatever they buy. It's a good deal if you can get some teaching colleagues on your side to put together some in-store events--art exhibits, performances, etc.--to bring in traffic. I told my principal that I was interested in doing so and staging a Barnes & Noble fundraiser, and he expressed support.

Maybe it was the approaching holidays, but I couldn't get any fellow teachers to commit to join me in adding an appealing event or two to induce parents to drive to the adjacent town. Sensing an epic fail, I tabled the idea.

Then, with conference night approaching and library space limited due to a week-long series of assemblies scheduled in the facility, I found what I thought was the perfect solution right in my email inbox.

It was an issue of School Library Journal's "Extra Helping," and one of the articles profiled this relatively new company that lets you set up a book fair fundraiser entirely online. All you have to do is the publicity; print some flyers, send some emails, make an announcement or two, and post links to your school's designated URL. I contacted them and they responded quickly. The rep I talked to was especially friendly and accommodating. I went to the office to seek permission and, finding the principal out, ran it past the assistant principal. "Sounds good, as long as, you know, the books are appropriate," she said.

I set up the fair at  https://www.bignoodlebooks.com/hwms48843

As conference night began, posters were up, links posted, flyers stacked and ready for parents to take home. Shortly after the evening was under way, the principal popped in.

"There's a little problem with the book fair," he said, "apparently some of the material isn't appropriate." He suggested I type the term "marijuana" into the sites search field. I did and several titles about aspects of marijuana came up.

It's an online book store, I said, just like Amazon.com. They sell titles for all ages and interests. While not everything is middle school appropriate, there's a prominent MIDDLE SCHOOL interest level menu option on the left hand side of the page, a Lexile search option, and they let me select featured titles for the population I serve and thumbnails of those titles occupy most of the space on the page.

He was not assuaged; he asked me to cancel the sale.

Posters down, links removed, flyers in the recycle bin...

This morning, the assistant principal poked her head in to make sure I'd removed the link to the sale from my school library page. I assured her I had.

"I can't believe some of the stuff I found on that site," she said.

Really? It seemed like typical bookstore content to me, I said. Is it any different than what you'd find on Amazon.com or anywhere else?

"Probably not," she answered.

Soooo...what's the difference between doing an online fundraiser like this and one that entails driving traffic to Barnes & Noble, for instance, where the scope of the material is the same?

"The difference is that if I go to the bookstore with my family, I can tell them not to go to this or that section."

And that, my friends, is where I'll end the story.

I'd love your opinions on this. Are my building admins right? Am I missing something? What would most parents' opinions likely be? In addition to all my confirmed shortcomings, am I also a degenerate smut peddler? Anyone else have a similar experience?

I also invite you to visit Big Noodle Books and sample their selection. How does it compare to other book merchant's offerings? Should they "protect" potential customers by offering book fair admins the opportunity to apply, for instance, a grade level filter that blocks content not in the selected range?

Enjoy your weekend.

Jeffrey Hastings

School Librarian, Still Trying to Do His Best.