Scholastic Book Clubs: How They Work and Their Benefits

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Book clubs are a time-tested and proven way for encouraging people to read, whether they are already bookworms or budding readers. And when a publishing company jumps into the book club sphere, that means it’s even easier to get your hands onto good quality books!

Scholastic Book Clubs is one of these groups founded to partner with parents and educators to give every child access to plenty of good quality children’s books. 

What is Scholastic Book Club?

The Scholastic Book Club is the publishing company’s avenue for getting their books into the hands of their main audience: children. Through the book club model, they encourage teachers to get their students engaged in reading, with the following expected benefits: 

  • students improve their vocabulary by being exposed to plenty of written text
  • they develop stronger critical thinking skills 
  • they get to expand their knowledge of their world 

Based on studies, Scholastic believes that reading shouldn’t just be limited to the school setting, and that children who read at home have a greater chance of lifelong success. This is why the company set out to find ways to encourage children to read at home. Hence, the Scholastic Book Club was born. 

In addition, the company also believes that when children are given the power of choosing the books they read, it increases the chances of their genuinely enjoying the experience. This is why, in the Scholastic Book Club, the students, with the help of their parents, can play a key role in deciding the kinds of books they want to read. 

How the Scholastic Book Club Works 

The teacher is the  main connection for the Scholastic Book Club. When a school signs up for the club, the teacher distributes digital or paper flyers for children to bring home to their parents. Then, they give their orders to the teacher, who compiles the orders of the whole class and places the order in behalf of the class. 

Upon ordering, Scholastic packs and ships a box containing the books that the class ordered, and the box arrives at the school. The teacher then distributes the contents of the box according to the orders, and the children get to bring home and keep the books they ordered. This empowers them with actual ownership of the book, and encourages home reading in the process. 

Benefits of the Scholastic Book Club

Here are some of the strengths of the Scholastic Book Club: 

  • It lets you browse for books by Grade Level or by Reading Level. This makes a huge difference for students who may be struggling readers: finding the appropriate yet still challenging level for them to read on can make or break whether they end up enjoying the experience
  • Upon ordering, they ship the books to your school and you can expect to receive them within 7-10 days. Not a bad turnaround time at all! 
  • Being part of the Book Club means that, even during school break, families and their kids can continue to order and receive books to read for leisure and continued learning. 
  • Schools whose students participate in the Book Club receive a 10%-15% rebate for orders placed, giving the school extra budget for purchasing other educational resources that will also benefit the students in the long run! 
  • The Scholastic Book Clubs also rewards teachers free books and other resources for the classroom 

How do I join the Scholastic Book Club?

Traditionally, teachers are the ones who can join the Scholastic Book Club. This is because the book club was designed to encourage home reading of students in the context of a group or community, where everyone’s enthusiasm was meant to affect everyone else’s. 

With the 2020 pandemic, Scholastic has included the feature of allowing home deliveries. In addition, the rising trend for homeschooling also opened the doors for homeschooling families to avail themselves of the benefits of the Scholastic Book Club. 

If you’re not a teacher or a homeschooling parent, you can still sign up and join the Scholastic Book Club by connecting to your teacher. Here are the steps: 

Step 1. Signing Up

On the scholastic.com/bookclubs website, click on “Create an Account” or “Connect to Your Teacher.” It will prompt you to select whether you’re a teacher/administrator/homeschooler or a parent/family member/guardian. 

  • If you’re a teacher/administrator/homeschooler, it will bring you directly to a sign up process. 
  • If you’re a parent/family member/guardian, it will bring you to “Connect to Your Teacher.” 
  • If you were able to get the Class Code from your child’s teacher, enter that information here. If not, you may search for your child’s school by city/state or zip code. 
  • Confirm you have the correct school and teacher information, and then click on “Create an Account.”
  • Enter your child’s basic information. 

Step 2. Browsing and Ordering

Click on “Get Started” and start browsing for books to order. You may opt to pay online and simply wait for your order to be shipped along with your child’s class. 

Maximizing Scholastic Book Club

When you really think about it, the Scholastic Book Club functions more as a group-buy scenario. The advantage is that with your child’s teacher setting a monthly due date for group orders, families get the accountability they need for ensuring that their child gets a steady dose of new books to enjoy. 

If you’re a teacher, you also get the added perks of rewards and rebates that can help you in your commitment to bring the best educational resources for your students. That’s what we call a win-win! 

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