Scholastic Book Fairs creator tools and Children’s Book Group Chief Marketing Officer Laura Lundgren were recently featured in a Vox article about the benefits of popular non-book items sold at the Fairs.
The article paid special attention to journals, specifically the bestselling furry capybara journal, and what makes them so popular among kids. Lundgren shared that the capybara journal, and similar items such as pens and pencil toppers, are included in Scholastic Book Fairs to bring in reluctant readers who might not be excited yet about looking through rows of books.
“We don’t want to show up and feel like homework,” Lundgren said. “We want to show up with all of the joy and all of the fuzzy capybaras, and we want to really invite kids into the experience.”
The article contends that these physical, analog journals provide kids with a place to express themselves, where they can create and share their ideas without external pressures. They also support and encourage kids to flex their writing skills and see themselves as writers, creators and, ultimately, readers.
“Kids probably aren’t thinking about literacy skills when they pick up a fuzzy capybara at the book fair,” the article shares. “But they may be thinking about the next thing they want to write or draw, which feels like a hopeful sign in a time of concern about AI killing kids’ creativity.”
To read the full article from Vox, click here: How a capybara took over the Scholastic Book Fair