Hageman Elementary School Book Fair Is a Win-Win Affair

On Saturday morning the activities room at Affton Christian Church became a bookstore for the day. Shelves of titles arranged by age groups circled the room with tables in the center for additional displays. The event, organized by Angela Siebum, a parent and Scholastic Book employee, had several positive aspects.

Students and their parents who bought books received special pricing, funds were raised to purchase books for Ready Readers and Hagemann received baskets of books for each grade level.

 “Ready Readers supplies books to low income pre-schools. Volunteers go to the schools and read to the youngsters. The organization has 116 participating facilities that serve over 7000 kids," Siebum said. "One day I saw a flyer asking for donations of gently used books and thought how much nicer it would be to receive a new book. Our fifth grade class was looking for a service project, so we took it from there."

Parents and students were shopping the shelves for favorite authors and interesting titles. Parent Ted Cox said, “We are here to support Hagemann and it is a situation where we can help others as well."

Parent Elizabeth Harms said, "This is wonderful. We are getting books for summer reading."

The sales were brisk with a constant stream of people checking out their selections at the register. 

“This is a great opportunity to buy books and at the same time help other readers who may not be able to afford them. Everybody should own a book,” said parent Mary Beth Graefe.

“The fifth graders named their project ‘Love of Literacy.’ Thanks to the generosity of Affton Christian Church providing the facility at no cost, they were able to maximize their donation to both the classrooms and Ready Readers,” said Siebum.

Fifth grade student vounteers, Jimmy Barrett and Justin Eernisse, were stationed at the door waiting to greet and assist customers at the book fair. Along with them was their fifth grader teacher, Katie Haegele.