There are quite a few things I remember about my
primary school life. Some of my worse teachers. Some of the better jokes. But one thing that constantly pops to the front of my mind when I think of primary school is the school book fair.
It happened every year. You first knew it was coming when those strange metal cases popped up in the
school library. You knew from experience that those huge cases would be folded open, and inside were bookshelves.
Bookshelf after bookshelf.
There were different shelves for different age groups. 5-7 year olds, this shelf. 7-8 year olds, that shelf. 8+ years, the other shelf.
For one week exactly, the book fair would
hijack the school library, turning it into a massive
bookshop. All the
children would eagerly drag their parents to the library before school, and pick out all the books they'd want. If you were
lucky, you'd get them all, but it never happened.
I'm not sure how much the school got paid for
hosting the book fair, if it even got paid at all, but after every fair there would be a massive
influx of new books into the school library, ripe for the reading. Of all the things I missed most when I went to
Big School, aside from the lack of
homework, the book fair would probably top the list.