A shopping challenge - coloring books and easy readers

[conradd]

As some of you know, I'm working on a program designed to get school supplies into the empty classrooms of Najaf, Iraq through the Backpacks for Iraq program. I've had really good luck finding excellent prices on almost everything but coloring books and easy readers (the kids start learning English at age 11).

Okay, shopping gurus, can you help me find excellent prices on coloring books and easy readers? They should be culturally appropriate (no religious, Barbie or Harry Potter) and as cheap as possible.

I've tried approaching the big chains like Borders and either the project doesn't fit in with their giving guidelines or they have lengthy application procedures. We have to have the filled packs down to the Marine base at 29 Palms by the end of this month.


Deb

[emeleel]

What kind of prices are you looking at? Absolutely no more than $_X_ would help.

[emeleel]

BookCloseouts.com might be a good source for later - apparently it takes too long to ship for what you're needing at this moment. But if you buy 100 books, it's only $75:

http://coupons.mycoupons.com/coupon_...=bookcloseouts

10 books for only $15.00! 20 books for only $25.00! 50 books for only $50.00! 100 books for only $75.

Still looking.....

[magenta321]

What is the price range you can allot to these books?

[magenta321]

Coloring Book 24 pg 6 asssorted -- $.89
(about 3/4 way down page) http://www.nik-nakshack.com/shack/dept.asp?dept_id=095+

(I know nothing about the store -- just sounds like a good price)

[conradd]

That's a great price. I e-mailed their customer service to see if they can ship to APO boxes - perhaps the coalition forces can insert the readers into the primary backpacks over there. Thanks, Melanie. I'll be interested in what else you can come up with.

Deb
wondering if Rugrats are culturally appropriate?

[conradd]

magenta321 said

What is the price range you can allot to these books?

LOL, as cheap as possible. I told people that for $10, we can purchase and fill a backpack with supplies. After purchasing the backpack, we have approximately $4 to purchase everything in it.

Here's the list for primary grades:

Primary School (Ages 6-12)
1 Small Backpack
3 80 Sheet Wide Rule Notebooks
1 Coloring Book
1 Box of Crayons (8 pack)
5 No. 2 Pencils
1 Pencil Sharpener (1 hole)
1 Rubber Eraser
2 Ball point Pens
1 Easy Reading English Book (students start learning English at age 11)

I found great prices on the notebooks and crayons at Target and K-Mart (my back porch is filled with cases of notebooks. And, I think I have the pencils and pens, pencil sharpeners and erasers taken care of. That leaves me a bit under $2 for both the coloring book and the easy reader. This backpack is the most expensive to fill. Any suggestions are welcome.

Deb

[amykhar]

We have junk shops called DE Jones around here. Coloring books are .19 each and generic crayons can be had for .20 a box.

No online way to buy though

[emeleel]

Ooo, ooo, ooo! I had a thought! (Amazing, I know! )

Try checking with the main branch of your local library. Between donations and culling out old to make room for new, libraries usually have a ton of books that they want/need to get rid of. Ours has a bookstore, and they have sales in the auditorium 2 or 3 times each year. Even if it's not sale time, I bet if you get hold of a nice person, they'd probably be willing to let you come in and browse through their storage and either give them to you or let you have them for a ridiculously low price.

[magenta321]

Here's some relatively inexpensive ones, but, it would depend on how many you were buying:

http://www.promomart.com/cgi-bin/pro...ct&mat=All&t=y

The ones about the environment or conservation seem benign enough for this purpose.

[pluckyduck]

magenta321 said

Here's some relatively inexpensive ones, but, it would depend on how many you were buying:

http://www.promomart.com/cgi-bin/pro...ct&mat=All&t=y

The ones about the environment or conservation seem benign enough for this purpose.

Promotional products.

See me, if these float your boat.



Andrea

[emeleel]

Another thought - if you don't get enough books out of that wonderful write-up in the paper, try your local dollar stores. Usually, you only get one book per dollar there, but this time of year, they usually have a lot of sets in books and coloring books. You can get 2,3 sometimes even 4 books for $1.

[theeye]

Would you consider ebay? Here's a lot of 60 Bambi coloring books I found. Bidding's up to $7 at this point. Don't know how high it's likely to go, but you don't have much to lose by bidding $10 or $12 on it.

[magenta321]

If you bid -- don't forget to snipe it.

Try esnipe or a similar software. Don't let the other bidders know you are interested in the item until the last possible second, and you'll be sure to win!

[theeye]

Fire Prevention Promotional coloring books

$0.39 each in quantity 500

Only 8 pages. Hopefully culturally innocuous.

[theeye]

And here's one entitled A trip to the Emergency Center, which might not be quite what you want.

$0.49 ea for quantity 250

[theeye]

Oriental Trading has its usual selection of cheap, but small items.

These coloring books are only 5" x 7" and only 6 pages, but they cost $9.95 for 6 dozen. That's less than 14 cents per booklet.

I think that this collection is free of holiday references, but it's not clear.

[theeye]

Another thought: a lot of restaurants have coloring books for little kids. Maybe they know of a cheap source?

[theeye]

Ooooh. Here we go. Try this site: http://www.kidsspecialtiesco.com/coloringbooks.html

[conradd]

Thanks for all your helpful ideas. I scored on coloring books and Melanie's tip on bulk books. LOL, now all I have to do is raise the money to pay for it. It'll come. Thanks, everyone.

EDeg

[emeleel]

for you!

Er.... EDeg?

[emeleel]

Oh, and - do you have Paypal?