…to get Scholastic Book Fairs to offer titles specifically chosen for Catholic schools.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but in my experience at least – which entails about 20 years of looking over the wares of Scholastic Book Fairs in various Catholic schools – I’ve never seen a "Catholic" book offered – not once. No saints books, etc.

And it’s not as if they don’t carry religious titles. I was finally moved to some semblance of action on this yesterday when I was perusing the wares at my son’s book fair, and noticed several – probably 8 or 10 religious-themed titles for preschoolers and young readers – VeggieTales, some Christmas books, I think, other God Loves Me titles, plus a couple of volumes in the Left Behind series tailored for teens. Yikes!

A couple of years ago, I know Scholastic contacted Loyola, asking on pricing for my Saints book. Nothing ever came of it. I do think that Scholastic is actually missing out on an opportunity here. There are so many locations with no Catholic bookstores, and even where they exist – we have two here – do parents of young children have time to go shop in them? For the most part, no. I think Scholastic would benefit from offering some saints books, a couple of the nice hardback titles that are out there about St. Francis, some Tomie de Paola titles that are religiously-themed, and so on.

So, I’m on it. With Scholastic, like any other corporation, it’s hard to find contact information that will take you to someone who actually has power, but I’m trying. And do let me know if my perception is wrong – if you’ve seen a Scholastic book fair that includes Catholic titles.