Once Upon a Time is a community of readers and writers – and that community extends beyond our bookshop and into your school. We bring free author events to schools throughout the area. We strive to reach every student with this unforgettable educational experience. The best schools understand how a memorable interaction with a professional and engaging children’s author or illustrator will inspire young minds and help drive literacy connections for years to come.

In the absence of a stipend or honorarium paid to the author (which in some cases is over $1,000), the school visits we coordinate must include book sales of the visiting author’s books using preorder forms. The preorder forms are sent out to parents a month ahead of the author’s visit, and returned back to school within 7-10 days (at the most). In order for us to order the proper amount of books, the school returns the completed forms with payment to our store 3 weeks ahead of the visit. There is usually a limited amount of books available for sale the day of an event, so the preorder forms are crucial to ensure the students have the best and most memorable experience possible.

Although a successful school visit is not based solely on sales, an expected amount of books sold is at least 30 + copies. There are some high-demand authors where we will need to guarantee a minimum order of books. We will be sure to include this information in our outreach to you. If you’re not sure your school population will be able to do that, you might want to reach out to your school’s foundation, PTA, or perhaps a “school angel supporter” to supplement your resources.

To make sure your students will get a chance to take part in an author visit, the following form MUST be completed.
(Completing this form does not guarantee an author will visit your school this school year)