I have an idea about book buying. I’ve been meaning to ask writer and bookseller James about it, but I haven’t seen him hanging around Kidsbooks this week. So, I thought I’d write it down here before it got absorbed like rum sauce into my pudding of a brain.
It all began with this dilemma: Do I buy Christmas presents from Kidsbooks, which of course is one of my favourite places to hang out, or do I buy them from the Scholastic catalogue? This may seem like an obvious choice, but lots of the Scholastic money comes back to the school, both to the classroom and to the library. Plus, I already opted out of the PAC’s support-the-school-by-buying-$7-chicken-mccraplets-for-your-child’s-lunch program, so I’m feeling some guilt here.
I would like to shop at Kidsbooks AND support the school.
Here’s my plan: When someone makes a purchase at the local bookstore, the friendly clerk (I like the smiley brunette with glasses, personally), says “would you like to add a dollar to your bill for your school library?”
When I say, “Why, yes! I WOULD like to support my school,” she charges me an extra dollar and puts that money in a special account.
The next week, when the school librarian comes to Kidsbooks, she asks the perky clerk, “Do I have any money on account?” and the clerk says, “Why, yes! Thirty parents have donated a dollar each to your particular library.”
The bookstore makes extra money, because all those dollars are going to be spent within the store. The librarian gets new books. And I get to shop locally, while my son runs over other kids with the rocket ship at the toy table. What could be better?
So… James (and anyone else with opinions). Would it work?
Sounds like a plan Tanya! Now putting it into action is the easy part, right?!?
I think it would be a great idea. Logistically, the problem might be matching which schools to which stores… there’d be a lot of different schools among the people who shop at that Kidsbooks. Maybe the PAC could figure out a special promo relationship with that store, where if you say you’re from your school at the till you get a discount plus a percentage of your bill donated to the school library.