The Scholastic Warehouse Sale AKA Heaven on Earth

This must be heaven, I thought as I walked into the Scholastic Warehouse Sale in suburban St. Louis.

Tables piled high with picture books, middle grade, young adult, and even adult best-sellers.

Shelves lined with books and activities marked with stickers as low as $1.

Long aisles with three or four levels of boxes filled with copies of popular titles.

I didn’t take a picture of the actual warehouse because I never found a view that could really capture what it was like. I did, however, take a picture of my haul at the end of the day:

I ended up with 31 books at about $2.50 per book. They tempted me with getting more as I only needed to spend $24 more to reach the threshold where my coupon would have gotten me $25 off instead of $10, but I’d already been there for two hours, plus I was starving, so I resisted. Some of the books are for me, some are for my kids, and some are for YOU. Yes, you, my blog readers.

My favorite part of the book sale was the shelves of bruised and battered books. These were the books with the $1 and $2 stickers on them. I love the thrill of a good bargain. I picked up a number of books I’d been wanting to read anyway and probably would have gotten from the library. Instead, I can now pass them on to you once I read and review them. I do love giveaways! And the best part is, on most of them I can barely tell they’re bruised. My best deal of the day was THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy in paperback for $5–all because the plastic on the back was ripped.

I will definitely be making this an annual trip, and I wouldn’t have known anything about it if it weren’t for Carla Cullen, who alerted me after I tweeted about the book fair at my son’s school. I could have gone crazy that day–and I did buy books for both of my kids there to support the school–but the warehouse sale was the jackpot. Now, I should warn you it’s not something that’s open to the general public. I signed up as a school library volunteer. It’s also open to teachers, librarians, home schoolers, and book fair volunteers. If you fit into one of those categories, you should definitely check it out.

Here are some tips if you do:

Check out the shelves of bruised books first. There may only be one copy of the book you really want. I had other people eying THE HUNGER GAMES trilogy in my cart.
Next go to the bargain alley section.
Reach high! There are boxes of books on the upper shelves. The labels on the shelves themselves usually tell you what they are.
Snack before you go. I probably would have gone back for that extra $24 if I hadn’t been so hungry :).

I’m anxious to start reading. I hope to do my first giveaway after the holidays. Be ready!