If you have a child in school, you are familiar with book fairs. My daughter’s school is currently holding one now. I love that my girls enjoy reading, so we always spend a lot at book fair time. I never feel bad splurging on books. But I’ll be honest, while the Scholastic book fair is the norm for most schools and offers some good selection, I would be much happier to support our local bookstore.

The Montclair Cooperative School is doing just that. Tomorrow, Sunday, October 23, the school will hold its first ever Independent Book Fair with Watchung Booksellers, the Montclair book shop that recently celebrated 20 years of business.

The books on sale are handpicked by the Watchung Booksellers’ team, and present a mix of contemporary titles they love as well as not-to-be-missed classics. You’ll find a Staff Picks table filled with some lesser-known books “no child should grow up without reading.” In addition, the Co-op has culled the wisdom of its own faculty and families to bring in scores of books reflecting themes from Diversity to Parent Education.

Beyond book sales, this festive day includes live family-friendly music with the country-influenced Weevils performing from 3:30-5:00 pm, book-related crafts, a mouth-watering variety of sweets and savories for sale, and a lineup of fabulous author readers:

Montclair Cooperative School & Watchung Booksellers Community Book Fair
Who: Book lovers of all ages.
What: Join the 2011 Book Fair! The Montclair Cooperative School is collaborating with the Watchung Booksellers to present a community book fair. Enjoy featured authors, family fun, good food, and a fabulous selection of books hand-picked by our local experts!
Sunday’s schedule:
  • 12:30 pm: Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of The Doll House Downstairs, and other books including the biography Rosa Parks from the popular Who Was… series, will walk the audience through her book-making process and will read from her forthcoming sequel, The Cats in the Doll Shop. (It’s due out in November, but there will be advance copies for sale!)
  • 1:30 pm:  Author, artist and Co-op parent Kevin Pyle performs a dramatic reading — with pictures! — from one of his non-conformist coming-of-age graphic novels, which include Katman and Blindspot.
  • 2:30 pm:  Maplewood writer Marina Budhos will lead a discussion around her newest young adult book, Tell Us We’re Home, which explores the friendships among three immigrant girls, all daughters of maids and nannies in a Northern New Jersey town.
  • 3:30 – 5:30 pm: Live family-friendly music with the country-influenced Weevils.

Where: Montclair Cooperative School, 65 Chestnut Street, Montclair, NJ 07042.
When: Sunday, October 23 from 12 pm – 5 / Monday, October 24 from 8:45 am – 4:30 pm / Tuesday, October 25 from 8:30 am – 10 am AND 2 pm – 4:30 pm
Cost: Free.

The Book Fair continues on Monday, October 24 from 8:45 am – 4:30 pm through Tuesday, October 25 from 8:30 am – 10 am and 2 pm – 4:30 pm. On Monday, in a talk open to the public, author Tom Yezerski will speak to Co-op fourth and fifth graders about his book The Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story, about the effort to restore one of our area’s most significant natural treasures. Program begins at 10 am and lasts just under an hour.

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