While driving home the other day I spotted a Scholastic Book Fair cargo truck and it instantly got my full attention; the type of attention normally reserved for a passing Pontiac Sunfire (the transportation of choice for very attractive Women). Not only did the bookmobile grab my attention it also knocked me right out of a deep Music trance. I was listening to "Rocket Man" and was almost to my favorite part in the song; you know the part that goes "And all this science I don’t understand, It’s just my job five days a week...." I never miss that part for anything, especially on a rare radio playing, but this time instead of hitting my favorite verse followed by a perfectly synced "Rocket Maaaaaaaaaan....Rocket Man" I turned of my radio and just stared at the truck as it passed.
If the allure of a recently graduated Owl or a rainbow explosion of literature didn't make me a rubberneck, my early memories of the book Fair surely did, I must have gazed at the side of that truck for 2 solid minutes, I just couldn't believe that I've lived the last 16 years of my life without remembering the Book Fair, it was such a huge event in the life of young Timmy. I mean what else did an elementary aged child have going on back then? there was Recess, Scented Markers, and the Book Fair... not much else.
At most of the Elementary Schools I attended they always gave at least a 4-6 week notice to create excitement and loosen up the pocketbooks of our parents. I can remember everyone being very stoked in the weeks building up to the event, we would get catalogs in advance to circle the books we wanted, but most of us just looked for books that came with the best toys, for example: the Detective novels came with tiny magnifying glasses, others came with cool Matchbox cars, the books marketed to the younger kids came with small tubes of bubbles, hell some even came with candy, this was a pretty big deal for us sticky handed sugar bandits. Almost nobody picked a boring 300 pager or anything remotely challenging for us, there were lots of Goosebumps and Berenstain Bears picked out to the dismay of our teachers.
When looking back on the Book Fair I don't have fond memories of reading new books or being a young consumer, instead I remember skimming through the catalogue knowing I couldn't buy any books, and I remember having to fake disinterest at the Fair to cover for not having any money, the excuse "they don't have my book here, it's on order" worked sometimes too. Surely I wasn't the only poor kid growing up so I don't consider this a sad memory, instead I try to remember how incredibly overrated the Book Fair and those cheap toys were, most kids only got 4 pages through their books and the toys were lost or broken within a few days, so what I took away from the experience is that some things can seem so very important at the time but in the big picture of life they really don't matter much.
I won't credit Young me with being wise enough to completely ignore not being able to buy stuff growing up, in fact it really sucked, but I can remember being resilient enough to not let it bother me too much. When I saw the Bookmobile I couldn't help but wonder what event or expectation in my adult life may seem overly important and will I be able to prioritize it accordingly? who knows, all I can say with certainty is that I'm a grown up with money now and I could buy all the candy I want and even eat Ice Cream for Breakfast if I so desire.
Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute
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