Bookcrack

By Kimberly

It's getting pretty far into the month, and I haven't had my fix yet. I'm starting to jones big time. Grabbing Sabrina's backpack the minute she comes through the door, riffling through it, discarding spelling tests and worksheets with reckless abandon, searching for my prize. 

Aha! Victory!

Triumphantly, I pull out the sheaf of Scholastic catalogues, otherwise known as bookcrack. I admit, I have a bit of a problem. I'm a little out of control with this addiction of mine.

I looove the Scholastic catalogue the way your husband loves Victoria's Secret. It's my porn. Curling up on the couch, poring over the pages, contemplating my many, many purchases. Bliss.

You remember that thrill you used to get when your teacher handed out those pages? I get that thrill every time I pull them out of Brina's backpack. Only better. Because this time I'm the mommy. Which means I can order anything I want. Oh, the power! Oh the deals! Little Miss Spider. Robert Munsch. Jon Scieszka. Flat Stanley. AT UP TO 75 PERCENT OFF!!!

The only problem is, Brina gets that thrill too. Over My Little Pony. Strawberry Shortcake. Barbie. Blech. 

And so the negotiation begins. The age-old dance between the classics and the crap. It used to be easier. Back in preschool I could just make my selections, send in my cheque, and wait for my dealer to deliver. Now that Brina can read, it's a whole new ball game. Now I have to at least pretend to care about what she wants. The perils of sharing my addiction, I suppose. 

And hey, at least it's still up to 75 percent off, right?

Kimberly is a proudly lazy, solo mom by choice to Sabrina (6) and Regan (1). She lives with them in Ontario, Canada.

Comments

[Gina]

Man, can I relate.

I just spent $90 on the first round of book orders. Yes, it's too much. My daughter kind of went nuts ordering book after book about animals and a couple of computer games and an art kit or two -- I didn't want to tell her no after she had circled so many, and I thought I could afford it this time. I guess the key factor in going overboard this time is that her dad (my husband) was in serious condition in the hospital for weeks (he's doing better now) and it seemed like a good distraction for her at the time.

But last week she brought home ANOTHER set of book order forms before we had even finished receiving all the books from the last order. That seemed a bit much. I stalled on it and now I see that we've missed the deadline.

Thank goodness!

I hope that my daughter will forget about it, but if she doesn't I will tell her the truth. I threw the overdue order form away tonight. We're going to have to set some kind of a limit on these book orders or I will go broke.

Yet the truth is that I love ordering the books too. I've always been a bookworm myself and, yes, some of my favorite books, to this day, are Scholastic books I ordered in school.

So what can I say. The truth is, I'm being dragged along and I don't even mind that much.

[andrea]

I am totally into books and am usually right on that book-ordering-train, but am increasingly annoyed by the commercialized selections being offered in the flyers. I don't want Dora, or Spongebob, or Barbie. I want the classics! Good books that I will enjoy along with my children!

What's worse though is that it appears that Scholastic is getting into the video game market now.
*sigh*

[Raquita]

Man - I thought I ws the only one still addicted.. every time I go into a bookstore I buy one- I can't wait for The Girl to egt that wonderful sheet and I can go hog wild all in the name of edu-ma-cation. (Amy- I never met another mom who called her daughter The Girl too. My friends think I'm crazy but she is The Girl in our world. I think I'll post about that on my blog today!

[Ancarett]

I just sent in another book order today -- just under 40$ spent which I hope will help out eldest's teacher a bit as well as giving us both some amusement.

[Kimberly]

Ah, the circles! I did that as a kid too. Still do, come to think of it. And so does Sabrina. You can imagine what the catalogue looks like when we're done!

Last year, Sabrina's grade 1 teacher gave every kid a picture book for Christmas and a novel at the end of the year. I'm pretty sure I paid for those. :) I used to teach grade 5/6. I have literally boxes of junior novels I "bought" with my bonus cupons. I miss bonus cupons. Highschools just aren't so much into the Scholastic scene.

Stanley is already ordered. I'm hoping to have at least the first one read before he arrives--Brina is really looking forward to it!

[Amy]

Great post. You brought back a lot of memories for me, I used to get so excited and I was a circle-er too.

I can't wait for The Girl to start school.

[Robin P]

This is a very funny post. I think many moms will identify with this.

Lillianna and I negotiate too. Even though she is in 2nd grade,she can read at a much higher level so I freak out when she wants to order The Hungry Caterpillar. She read that when she was 3!! I want to order chapter books,something to challenge her.
She doesn't understand why I am willing to spend $14 on a book set of the Magic School bus or the Little House series of even Junie B.Jones but I won't spend $1.95 on a "baby book."
It's challenging to come to a compromise but we eventually do.

(Definitely buy some Flat Stanley books because I sent your address to Lillianna's teacher and Stanley will be coming your way in the near future. Thanks again for agreeing to host him!)

[Ms. Mama]

Wow, I forgot all about those! I used to circle all the books I wanted and hand it to my mom. Needless to say the whole sheet was FULL of circles!

[amy h]

Loved your post....sooo funny! For me it was the "Book Fair" in elementary school. Exciting!

[Tina]

I love Scholastic books and also remember the excitement of choosing a book and then the anticipation of it's arrival -- just like Christmas. And it was sort of even better than Christmas because we were poor and never ever got anything extra, except when the Scholastic flyer came out and we could choose a book. Oh, and then smelling the fresh new inky pages as I fanned them under my nose when I finally got my hands on it. (Anyone else love how books smell? No, just me? Old or new, book smell is intoxicating!) To me that's one of the greatest things about having a kid is you have a reason to relive your childhood again.

[Michelle]

I'm a teacher and I hear you on the Scholastic buzz. But it was worse for me, because the more my students ordered, the more free books I got for my classics. It was a situation of--"Come on! Spend five more dollars and I can get that new Gary Paulsen book for our room! You know you want that Barbie pack." :)

Ah, the addiction!