WYOMING — Sitting in a chair inside the Wyoming Free Library, Luke Fuller shifted through the multiple books he planned to purchase, explaining what each one was all about.
The library held its first Scholastic Book Fair lastweekend, with hopes the fundraiser would generate at least $1,000 for the organization.
Fuller shuffled through the books, which were mostly guides and tutorials on various video games, until the young borough resident stopped at one about virtual world building.
“I just picked it up and started reading it,” he said of a book that teaches various world-building tricks for video games, such as Minecraft. “It’s all about the interesting Minecraft secrets I didn’t know about.”
Library director John Roberts said the fair is the first major fundraiser for the library’s 90th anniversary, and he believes it was a success.
Roberts said the idea for a scholastic book fair came after wanting to incorporate new fundraising ideas, but still keep a common theme of books. He said he put news of the fair on the library’s social media pages and word quickly spread of the event, leaving him hopeful that the $1,000 goal would be reached.
Aside from raising money, another benefit of the fair is to choose new books for the library to carry.
The fair caters from young children just learning to read up to middle-school-aged kids, with prices starting at under $5 for a book. Everything from literacy and counting to gaming and science fiction is included, offering current hits such as “Paw Patrol,” Shopkins, “Peppa the Pig” and LEGO series books for children. It also includes classics like “Harry Potter” activity books and a short on J.K. Rowling’s latest movie release, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
Fuller’s mother, Colleen Garrison, said she doesn’t mind that her son chose books based on video games because he’s still reading — and, to her, that’s what matters most. A longtime patron of the library and avid guest at scholastic book fairs, she said she used to have her son attend the library’s “Furry Tales” groups, where she learned to allow her son to read about what he enjoys.
“So even though (the books) are attached to a video game,” she said, “they’re still reading.”
