A school inspires more memories than any other place: Try standing in one, surrounded by the smell of recently sharpened pencils, rubbed erasers and thumbed-through books without remembering yourself as a child, learning your ABCs. Books, in particular, are for many people an enduring part of childhood — pressing your nose to the cracked spine of a newly acquired volume, thinking of what places you might visit in its pages.

For Megan Carder, West Sedona School Kindergarten English Language Learner teacher and organizer of this season’s WSS Scholastic Book Fair, the memories of being surrounded by books are still fresh.

“I remember the magic of walking into my school and having all these books in front of me,” Carder said. “I loved finding the perfect book and bringing it home to read. Some to the children in this school and in my classroom don’t have large libraries at home so being able to have a book of their own is very special. Book fairs are very exciting and something that the students are really looking forward to.

“Although, honestly, I was more excited than the students when the Scholastic Clifford truck drove to school and dropped off all the books.”

With only one year at West Sedona behind her, it is Carder’s first time tasked with the responsibility of coordinating the book fair, but her experience in 2014 paved the way for her current role. According to Carder, Scholastic makes running the fair extremely easy. Making sure parents and children are aware of the event is, however, is a challenge — especially considering that the fair coincides with children returning from Thanksgiving break.

Scholastic Book Fair

• What: West Sedona School will host a holiday book fair. Funds raised will help purchase books for the school library. Families, faculty and the
  community are invited to attend.
  The book fair will also feature a family and community event, Bagels and Books, on Wednesday, Dec. 2, from 7 to 9 a.m., which allows parents to have breakfast with students while shopping for books.
• When: Open daily from 2:30  to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, Dec. 1 through 4
• Where: West Sedona School, 570 Posse Ground Road, Sedona, AZ 86336

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Nov. 25, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.