The Library Book Fair will be open during the program. Please
support the school library by purchasing books and other materials
from the Book Fair. All proceeds will benefit the school library
program. Thank you for your support.
Mrs. Janie Daniels, author of The Beanie Invasion, will sell
chances to win six autographed copies of her book and a Baldy
the Eagle for $1.00 per chance. All money collected will be a
gift to the school library. Thank you Mrs. Daniels!
The Beanie Invasion book is available for purchase. Mrs. Daniels
will give the school fifty percent of the purchase price to be
used by the school library program. She is willing to autograph
her book tonight.
Our door prizes include discount certificates for the Library
Book Fair; book marks: pencils; and a computer. Please keep the
blue tickets for the door prize drawings.
All parents are encouraged to sign the Guest Book for tonight.
Thank you for your continued support of our school and programs.
The school had extra donated computers which they use as
give-a-ways to help put computers into their community. Each person
in attendance received a blue ticket for a drawing which will
be held at the end of the evening. NO PURCHASE REQUIRED.
On November 20, l997 I was a guest speaker at Belmont Elementary
Family Library Night.
I had been anticipating this evening for a while and was very
excited about the opportunity to address students about Beanie
Babies. I had designed a Beanie Holiday Game Puzzle for the students
and had given a copy of my Beanie Bloopers and Blunders information
fact sheet for their viewing.
The evening started off with Mr. Melnichak, the school's principal
welcoming the crowd, (standing room only) approx. 300 in attendance.
Mr. Melnichak briefly described what the evenings events would
be and then turned over the microphone to Ms. Wright the Librarian.
When Ms. Wright had finished, Mr. Melnichak introduced me to the
crowd.
As I walked up to the microphone, I suddenly felt very flushed,
and was overwhelmed by the amount of people who had attended this
event. As I started speaking I found myself relaxing. I briefly
explained how I started collecting Beanie Babies and what made
me decide to write The Beanie Invasion. I displayed the new current
releases which brought about many "ooh's and ahh's".
I them showed a few pieces from my retired collection which were
very rare. I toyed with the audience and asked questions, much
to my surprise adults got involved and were just as excited as
the children were. At the conclusion of my speech, I informed
the audience that I would be donating two signed copies to the
school's library for all of the children to enjoy.
Mr. Melnichak, his daughter Ashley, and I then drew names
for a few FREE surprises I gave to this evenings events: Six Brand
New Teenie Beanies in original bags.
Lizz - named after Lizzy
Speedy - the turtle
Chocolate - the moose
Quacks - named after Quackers
Chops - the lamb
Seamore - the seal
I also gave away Sparky the retired Dalmatian and one Spooky the
Ghost.
We also drew names for two out of the six Beanie Invasion
books along with Baldy the eagle, a Beanie Invasion balloon and
bookmark. Mr. Melnichak made a brief announcement stating that
my book could now be purchased and autographed and that the school's
book fair was in progress.
As the evening drew to a close, Mr. Melnichak, along with
the help of his daughter Ashley, drew the remaining tickets. Mr.
Melnichak played with the audience while he called out the numbers.
He occasional would call a few numbers and then ask how many people
were still in the running. Mr. Melnichak would slowly repeat the
numbers and then add an extra number, repeating the whole process
over again. The parents and students were loving every minute,
the anticipation was killing them. Mr. Melnichak had cleverly
covered all of the tables in the cafeteria with paper for the
students to draw and color on, I noticed many parents nervously
doodling as they were awaiting for the remaining numbers.
The remaining four Beanie Invasion books , Baldy the Eagles,
balloons and bookmarks were given a-way. Discount certificates
to the Book Fair were also given a-way.
THE MOMENT WE WERE ALL WAITING FOR.
The drawing for the computer which was a 286 IBM with programs,
printer, monitor and keyboard. Mr. Melnichak once again played
with the audience, but what happened next was extremely touching.
Mr. Melnichak had drawn a ticket which belonged to a student by
the name of Chris. Chris, informed Mr. Melnichak that he already
had a computer and would he please redraw so that someone else
would have a opportunity to own one as well. I was overwhelmed
by this students generosity, I could feel my eyes fill up with
tears, I noticed that many others shared my same sentiments. Mr.
Melnichak gave Chris his own Baldy the Eagle and I gave him a
signed copy of my book, a balloon and a bookmark. Mr. Melnichak
redrew from the remaining tickets and a family of two little girls
won the big prize.
I would like to thank Mr. Fred Melnichak, Sue and Ashley Melnichak,
Belmont Elementary School and all of the parents and children
for such a memorable evening. Mr. Melnichak is a outstanding principal
who shows he really cares about parent and student involvement
within his school. Many parents commented how much they enjoyed
having him at Belmont Elementary.
