Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Joood - Hooligan of Platypire reviews bossed me into doing this, so I guess this is a thing I do now.
This weeks theme is back to school freebie. Jana has offered some possible suggestions like books that take place in school, or favorite text books, but I'm not taking any of her suggestions. This is the first year that my kids have been in public school (we homeschooled while we were living in Germany for a few reasons), and that means this is the first year that my kids are coming home with Scholastic book orders, and I think I'm more excited about them than my kids are (although we still managed to spend $93 between the two of them on the first round). But for those of you that do not have kids in school yet, book orders are way cooler now, because you can place the order online and the book selection is not limited to what's in the fliers that are sent home. This means that I can absolutely start shopping from the YA flyer and making my kids bring books home to me (I think), and some of the money I spend on them will help my kids' teachers improve their classroom libraries. It's like a win-win-win situation (okay, my kids might feel like they're on the losing end of that deal having to haul my books home).
I just can't help it though, because Scholastic book orders bring with them a feeling of nostalgia. I always loved getting the flyers at school, and I'd get home and ask my mom how much I could spend (it was usually $20 unless I had multiple flyers at once, and then it'd be like $30 for 2 or $40 for 3, but with Scholastic book orders, that money would stretch pretty far). Then I'd comb through my flyers, prioritizing the books that appealed to me (any book about ghosts always went straight to the top of the list), narrowing down my selection to fit within my budget. Then I'd have to wait a couple weeks for the books to arrive, but those days were always a little bit like Christmas for me. Other kids in the class would have maybe 1 or 2 books, and I'd be taking home a whole stack, sometimes enough to fill my backpack. Thank goodness I only lived two blocks from school and was allowed to cut through Gene and Roberta's yard (they were an elderly couple that I'd hang out with in the evening just because; I was oddly outgoing as a child).
So because this week's topic is a back to school freebie, and I was so ridiculously excited when my kids brought home Scholastic order forms, I'm going to run down books I want to order from their order forms (for them, I swear!) And because I have two kids, I'm going to pick five selections from each flyer (and I'm even going to add a bonus five books from the YA flyer I can access online).
My Weird School Value Pack by Dan Gutman - First of all, I could not find an equivalent pack on Amazon for what is in the flyer, so I went with the closest thing. Through the flyer, I can get the first 8 books in the series for just $21 where the first 12 books on Amazon would cost a little over $31. I imagine these books are kind of like The Bailey School kids series that I loved growing up, so I like to think my kids would like them. (My son's flyer has the 12 book set for $34, so apparently books 9-12 are more expensive.)
The Spirit of Cattail County by Victoria Piontek - This is another book that would have absolutely shot to the top of my list when I was in school because it features a ghost! I could order the paperback copy from the flyer for just $4 and Amazon doesn't even have paperbacks for sale yet.
Geekerella by Ashley Poston - I can get this in paperback from Scholastic for just $5, whereas it would cost me $7.56 on Amazon.
I just can't help it though, because Scholastic book orders bring with them a feeling of nostalgia. I always loved getting the flyers at school, and I'd get home and ask my mom how much I could spend (it was usually $20 unless I had multiple flyers at once, and then it'd be like $30 for 2 or $40 for 3, but with Scholastic book orders, that money would stretch pretty far). Then I'd comb through my flyers, prioritizing the books that appealed to me (any book about ghosts always went straight to the top of the list), narrowing down my selection to fit within my budget. Then I'd have to wait a couple weeks for the books to arrive, but those days were always a little bit like Christmas for me. Other kids in the class would have maybe 1 or 2 books, and I'd be taking home a whole stack, sometimes enough to fill my backpack. Thank goodness I only lived two blocks from school and was allowed to cut through Gene and Roberta's yard (they were an elderly couple that I'd hang out with in the evening just because; I was oddly outgoing as a child).
So because this week's topic is a back to school freebie, and I was so ridiculously excited when my kids brought home Scholastic order forms, I'm going to run down books I want to order from their order forms (for them, I swear!) And because I have two kids, I'm going to pick five selections from each flyer (and I'm even going to add a bonus five books from the YA flyer I can access online).
2nd Grade
My Weird School Value Pack by Dan Gutman - First of all, I could not find an equivalent pack on Amazon for what is in the flyer, so I went with the closest thing. Through the flyer, I can get the first 8 books in the series for just $21 where the first 12 books on Amazon would cost a little over $31. I imagine these books are kind of like The Bailey School kids series that I loved growing up, so I like to think my kids would like them. (My son's flyer has the 12 book set for $34, so apparently books 9-12 are more expensive.)
Waking the Rainbow Dragon by Tracey West - What is not to love about a rainbow dragon? And for $4 (which is 31 cents cheaper than Amazon before tax) the price is absolutely right.
The Princess in Black Pack by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale - This is another selection where I couldn't find an exact match on Amazon, but this one is only off by one book. Through the flyer, I can get the first three books in this series for just $14, whereas the four book set on Amazon would run me $46 (although that is through a third party seller).
Trolls: Poppy and the Mane Mania by David Lewman - This is a rare instance where the price on Amazon is lower than in the flyer, but the book from Amazon probably doesn't come with a bookmark.
Eerie Elementary: The Hall Monitors are Fired! by Jack Chabert - So this may not be a ghost book exactly, but it's definitely the kind of book that would have been high on my list when I was in school with a title like that. I'd probably collect Eerie Elementary books just like I collected Goosebumps books.
4th Grade
The Spirit of Cattail County by Victoria Piontek - This is another book that would have absolutely shot to the top of my list when I was in school because it features a ghost! I could order the paperback copy from the flyer for just $4 and Amazon doesn't even have paperbacks for sale yet.
Pokemon Super Deluxe Essential Handbook by Scholastic - This is another book that is actually cheaper through Amazon at $11.99 as opposed to the $14 advertised in the flyer (but my kid's teacher wouldn't get Scholastic points if I ordered from Amazon).
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Edition Box Set by J.K. Rowling - I absolutely love the new covers for the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Harry Potter series, and I can order it through the flyer for just $50 as opposed to Amazon's $61.20. (You have no idea how hard I had to talk myself out of adding this to the order already.)
The Collector by K.R. Alexander - This is listed under "Spooky Stuff" so it would absolutely made it on my list when I was a kid (and I'm seriously considering adding it to a wish list for future ordering because I can get it from the flyer for $4 as opposed to the $6.99 Amazon is charging).
The Haunting of Hounds Hollow by Jeffrey Salane - This is another book found under "Spooky Stuff" that I would absolutely have wanted to buy (and still kind of do).
YA Flyer
Geekerella by Ashley Poston - I can get this in paperback from Scholastic for just $5, whereas it would cost me $7.56 on Amazon.
Timekeeper by Tara Sim - This book looks fabulous, and through Scholastic the paperback is just $5, whereas I'd spend $10.08 buying it from Amazon.
A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge - This cover! And it's another instance where through Scholastic I'd pay just $5 but Amazon is asking for more than $10 (and in this case, I'd probably even get the book sooner ordering it through Scholastic because it doesn't release on Amazon until October!)
From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon - Scholastic has the paperback of this for just $5, and I'd pay over $10 on Amazon. I feel like YA bloggers who can't get on publisher's lists for ARCs of books should hook up with parents of school kids to order books straight through Scholastic. But maybe that would come across as a little creepy.
William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher - I have already read Doescher's The Empire Striketh Back, and it was awesome, so I absolutely want to get the rest of the books in this series. And while the $14 Scholastic is charging is more than what I can get it for on Amazon, I'd still prefer to help the teacher out.
So there you have it, ten (fifteen) books that I would choose to order from my kids Scholastic order forms. Someone please tell me that I'm not the only parent around here that's ridiculously excited by my kids book order forms. - Katie
*If you're stopping by from the linkup, please be sure to leave a link to your post below so I can stop by and check out your Back to School Freebie lists.*
I absolutely loved the Scholastic book orders, so yay! Fun! I really enjoy Shannon Hale's stuff, I think she writes great stuff for kids, and Timekeeper sounds like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting list! I always really enjoyed getting those scholastic order forms when I was a kid, and I feel all reminiscent thinking about it. Just looking in them made me super excited back then. Timekeeper seems like a really fascinating steampunk read.
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://thebookquestbykris.wordpress.com/2018/08/26/top-10-back-to-school-books-5-extra-ones/