Has anyone else heard that Scholastic has bought out Troll books? We recently received a call from Scholastic rep.'s stating that they will be handling our Fall book fair instead of Troll. That would be fine (I prefer Scholastic books), except that they also said they will not honor our contract with Troll. Troll was to give us Buy one, Get one free and $5 certificates for every volunteer. We run this bookfair mainly to get a book in every child's hands at the start of the new school year. It is not, nor has it ever been, a fundraiser. It is run during our big brochure sale, so it wouldn't be right to try to turn it into a fundraiser. Scholastic told us that they cannot do the buy one, get one until April. They said Troll was giving everything away and that is why they went under. I feel that because we have had this contract in place since last fall, they should honor it. Did I mention that we have Scholastic already scheduled for the Spring? And we have consistently used both of these companies for years and years? I am ready to cancel the sale all together. It is just such a shame because it seems to get the kids off on the right foot. Any suggestions out there?

Okay, Scholastic said they would honor the buy one get one in April instead of now, that's good.
As far as the contract you signed with Troll, it sounds like you are doing well with the fact you are still given the chance to have the sale with Scholastic.
I haven't dealt with either of these companies but I am a 'retail widow' as my husband is in the buz. In a three years time my husband has worked for 3 companies without much say (all the companies have been bought and sold like stuff on e-bay!)
Hang in there, just make sure you get everything in writing and understand that this is the best they can do. Buy outs are hard to deal with but the fact you have two bookfairs for the students says so much! Please remember the little ones that we pull our hair out for!!! (Also the parents that will benefit from a book fair that don't get to a bookstore as often as they would like!)
I'm so long winded...sorry!

My advice - don't trust what your Scholastic rep said! We have had some very bad experiences with their misrepresentations.... Even with Troll out of business (and that's new to me, they were doing fine in the spring) don't let Scholastic take the upper hand with you. I was shocked to find out just how many more "deals" I could've cut with them. They have a line similar to Trolls, that is way way more affordable. Be assertive with 'em...and don't overlook your local bookstores, quite often they will cut you a deal on a bookfair that is far more reasonable.

We decided to abandon the for-profit sale and go to a school-wide book swap. It will probably be more work, but at least it will put a book in every kid's hand, and that is our goal. I can't stand most of the stuff Scholastic sends - overpriced books, lots of pricey erasers and toys, and WWWF posters that we had to refuse to put up. Misses the whole point of the bookfair! We also had a bad experience with their instructional media folks (we chose to get our profits in a voucher for desperately needed teacher's materials - they offered us 3 different rebate plans). Those folks were incredibly hard to deal with, sent stuff 3 months after it was ordered (and some never came!) and the merchandise was way overpriced. Some schools take the cash rebate, but it really doesn't pay...figure the number of volunteer hours it takes to make $500, via Scholastic and you'll see what I mean. If your goal is to get books to the kids, there's lots more creative ways to do it! Our former librarian thought the best way to get the rebate was to go to their warehouse and get books, but she didn't mind the 6 hr. round trip and knew exactly what our library needed. If the warehouse is local, you might want to consider that instead.

BTW, I balked at getting another Scholastic Fair this year, and my rep finally acquiesed into a Buy One, Get one Free agreement... (though we still aren't doing the sale) .I think they have more leverage than they will let on. Stick to your guns! Good luck!

Our PTO allots $3000. every year for RIF (Reading is Fundamental). We have totally free book distributions to all children at least twice a year (maybe more, I'm not directly involved in it). Our book fairs are pretty much chosen by the librarian since the proceeds go back to her to purchase books. We (PTO) just help her run it.

I found a new co. to use for our bookfair:Usborne books.The PTA board really liked the books-they're printed in-house,and are educational-and we are planning to use them at least once,if not for both the Fall and Spring bookfairs.

The rep I've been dealing with said Scholastic owns 26% of the co. and the pres./owner says that's all they'll ever own.

Will let you know how the fair goes.

Does anyone have the phone number for Usborne books or its web site?