Scholastic Book Club

Aw, who doesn't fondly remember Scholastic Book Club? Well, maybe those kids who hated reading, but even they would usually find a thin paperback about Roger Staubach (not looking so good these days, by the way) or movie monsters or something to tide them over.

The teacher would pass out the catalogs, and you'd grab a pen and start circling the books you wanted. Mom and dad might not let you get every single thing you marked, but usually they were pretty excited to have you reading, so they'd at least get you something. You'd fill out the form, show up at school with your envelope of money, and then forget all about it till that magic day when the big box arrived and your teacher handed everything out. The new books smelled great and you'd stack up your pile and eagerly await going home and cracking one open. Some of us always had the biggest stack in the class. You know who you are.

Dynamite (awesome cover collection here) and Bananas Magazine also came from Scholastic, and in those innocent days pre-People Magazine, they were unbelievably cool. Jokes! Magic tricks! Celebrity interviews! Info about TV shows and movies! Comic strips!

Hillary at I'm Remembering has an awesome picture of a 1991 Scholastic Book Club catalog. That's after my time, but it's familiar enough. (If anyone finds a photo of one from the 1970s-1980s, drop us a line!).

Here's an article from the NY Times last year talking about how the Club is modernizing and using social networking, etc. And here's a great Flickr group with vintage Scholastic books and illustrations. And a Can I Haz Cheeseburger blog, Epic Win, remembers them fondly.

Do you remember Scholastic Book Club? Still have any of the titles you ordered, or remember what they were?