This year, H-F hosted its second annual book fair with Bookie’s Book Store in the library from April 11-18. 

Bookie’s, a bookstore with used and new books in the Chicagoland area, is not only at H-F but also at surrounding schools, like James Hart Middle School and Churchill Elementary School, which allows local kids of all ages to be exposed to different books. 

Bookie’s provided many books, writing utensils and journals for our students and staff to purchase. 

According to Rich Wojcikowski, Operations Manager, “We also have a mixture of new and discounted ‘nearly new’ used books so that we have a range of book prices that allows the maximum number of students the ability to make a purchase that fits their family’s budget.’’ There is also no tax. 

Books ranged from $5 to $25, depending on the book, and students could pick from many genres such as horror, romance and history targeted to the young adult audience. Sales vary per school, but after all the expenses are paid for, shipping the books and creating labels, some profits go towards the school and vouchers are given to the students to get them to buy more books. Last year, many students received vouchers, but this year, there were fewer students to receive them.

Compared to the year before, this year the excitement about the book fair felt smaller. According to sophomore Mia Henry, ‘’My freshman year, the book fair was really fun, there were more games and a lot more people in there, but this year it felt like there was a lack of interest.’’                      

Other students had different reactions to the book fair. According to sophomore Asha Maclin, “I thought it was fun, I like the different books they had and it made me excited to see new books.’’ She also said, “I liked how they had stuff for drawing. It was really fun and there was also awareness for disabilities books which really touched me.”

Bookie’s made everything easily accessible to all students and staff. According to Sophomore Gabrielle Brooms, “Everything is nice and organized, there are signs to help know what genre of book there is and overall it was really nice.” 

Overall the book fair was fairly different this year but still a great way for students to see a new variety of books. The book fair has been very successful and H-F looks forward to doing it again next year.