Cheesecake, Music, Authors & Books for Weston Middle School

Jacob Skor, a Weston Middle School seventh grader, is studying realistic fiction in English class, so he went to his school's media center and checked out "The Book Thief."

"It's a good book," Jacob said. "I read about vast topics."

Jacob stood at a table by the Barnes & Noble Bookstore entrance in Westport, 1076 Post Road, Wednesday evening and offered stickers and pieces of cheesecake to visitors. It was part of an all-day fundraiser for Weston Middle School's media center to buy new books and eBooks.

Seated behind the table were Janet Hoffman, a PTO member, and Aimee Shuhart, the media specialist at the middle school. The stickers they gave out let store cashiers know to set aside a percentage of purchases for the school.

"It's something we do nationally at all Barnes & Nobles," Tricia Tierney, the store's community relations manager, said of the fundraiser. "It has to have something to do with Barnes & Noble's mission of literacy and the arts."

Tierney said the bookstore has partnered with k-12 schools and non-profit organizations such as the Westport Historical Society and the Norwalk and Bridgeport youth orchestras. It also supported Fairfield's First Book program.

On Wednesday,  Weston Middle School's Barnes & Noble Shopping Event went on from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Students offered cheesecake samples and stickers to patrons and four members of the school choir performed R5's song "Pass Me By".

Choir members were seventh graders Amanda Wrynn, Victoria Buisson, Sophia Jacobs and Olivia Cannon.

Three authors participated in a book signing from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Writers included Nora Baskin, who penned "Anything But Typical" a Newberry Award winner; Tony Abbott, "The Secrets of Droon, Kringle"; and Sarah Littman, "Purge, Want to Go Private?"

"This is a fantastic opportunity to bring the community together to support each other between the school, parents, students, the bookstore and the authors," said Rosie Jacobs, publicity chair for the Weston Middle School PTO. "We created a community that's sharing a very special time before the holiday season. A lot of people showed up and enjoyed themselves."  

A Business Partnership

Tierney said Weston Middle School invited friends and family to shop at the bookstore, getting their stickers at the door. Only money from purchases made by customers wearing the stickers went toward the cause. 

"It's a business partnership," Tierney said. "You bring in traffic and we'll give you a percentage of the sales."

The percentages were awarded on a tier system. Purchases of up to $2,000 reaped 10% in the store and online for the school and 15% for purchases made using the Barnes & Noble gift card. Using the gift card online raised 12% of the purchase for the school. 

Sales between $2,000 and $10,000 in store sent 15% (20% with a gift card) to Weston Middle School and online raised 10% (12% with a gift card) of it.

Sales of $10,000 or more were 20% in store, 25% with a gift card, 10% online and 12% online with a gift card.

Tierney said the school could choose to either be paid in cash or with a store card that can be used for books to stock the media center.