'Best Sale Ever' for Lincoln Prairie Elementary School

Fifth-grade teacher Bonnie Whetstone was confident her school could run a successful book sale.

But even she was surprised when several thousand books were donated to this year's annual fundraiser at .

The donations were turned around and sold, most for just 10 cents to $2, during the school’s used book sale on April 14 and 15. 

In total, $2,300 was raised and donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

“This was the best sale ever,” Whetstone said. “Our goal was $1,100 and this year’s sale was beyond my belief.”

Whetstone credited the success to the students, teachers, custodians and parents who helped with the sale.

This year’s sale was also held in memory of Emma, who died this past year. Emma was the daughter of Cindy Deuser, a special education teacher at Lincoln Prairie, Whetstone said.

“I think we had a lot of response because of Emma and because of the quality of books we had to sell,” Whetstone said. “We had wonderful participation from volunteers, the custodians who helped move the tables, the parents who donated the books, and the children themselves.”

Lincoln Prairie fifth-grade students first met in early March to plan the book sale. The students divided into various committees and completed the tasks themselves. Committees were charged with making posters, writing announcements, advertising the sale, pricing the books, selling the books and restocking the sales tables set up in the school lobby.

Whetstone said the school had about 150 boxes of gently used books donated for the annual event. They sold all but 10 boxes, which she plans to hold for next year’s sale.

Lincoln Prairie started its spring fundraiser five years ago.

The first year, the proceeds were donated to Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo for the "Feed the Animals" program. Every year since, the school has given the sales revenues to St. Jude’s, Whetstone said.

"This was just a phenomenal success," she said.