How Scholastic became a cultural rite of passage for Canadian kids

For many Canadians, Scholastic brings about an instant wave of nostalgia. 

Memories come flooding back of flipping through colourful catalogues, circling must-have books, and browsing tables stacked with trinkets — from scented erasers to posters and pencils — set up in school auditoriums during book fair week.

For generations of elementary school students, Scholastic brought excitement and joy — and for many kids today, even in an age dominated by screens, that magic hasn’t faded, say educators.

“Kids bought one [book], then the next month, they were looking forward to [another], and it was just a great way to inspire kids to read,” Roberta MacDonald, who spent 53 years as an elementary school teacher, told Cost of Living.

Scholastic book fairs and catalogues run in 88 per cent of the more than 10,000 publicly funded elementary schools across Canada, according to the company. 

On average, three million books are shipped across Canada each year through these initiatives.

Last year, Canadian schools hosted nearly 9,000 book fairs, and they are on track for similar numbers this school year.

So how has Scholastic built and maintained its prominence in children’s lives? 

Mark Leslie Lefebvre, former president of the Canadian Booksellers Association who has worked in the book industry for more than 30 years, says no Canadian children’s publisher seems "to have the footprint that Scholastic does.”

Founded in 1920 in Pennsylvania by Maurice R. “Robbie” Robinson, Lefebvre says Scholastic started off as a magazine publisher for young readers. Then, in 1926, it published its first book.

According to Lefebvre, Scholastic’s defining moment came in 1948, when the company launched book clubs, giving students the chance to order books directly using paper forms.

In 1957, Scholastic launched its first subsidiary in Canada.

It hosted its first school book fair in 1981, and two years later, brought the event to Canada, piloting programs in Vancouver and Toronto. The concept quickly caught on and became a recognized program within Canadian elementary schools. 

Joseph Jeffery, a district-level teacher-librarian in northern B.C. and chair of the non-profit Canadian School Libraries, says the book fairs offer critical incentives for schools.