Sophomore Siena Ferraro has had a passion for books and literature since she was a child. She said one of her fondest memories was attending the annual Scholastic Book Fair at her elementary school.

In hopes of spreading her joy for literature, Ferraro hosted Archer’s first used book fair Feb. 17 in the library during lunch. She sent an email to the community Feb. 14 reminding students and faculty members about the event and encouraging them to bring gently used books and participate in the fair.

Ferraro is the leader of the Short Story Social Club, a group of students dedicated to discussing relatively undiscovered or unpublished short stories. She said the reason why her club presented the event as a used book fair instead of a traditional book fair was to make it equitable and accessible to all community members.

“The initial idea was to bring the Scholastic Book Fair to Archer. I was planning the fair with Ms. Hernandez, and we started talking and realized that it would be even better to make it a free event,” Ferraro said. “The whole whole point of it being used books only is because we want to sustainably and equitably spread the joy of literature to students throughout the school. That aspect is something that is really important to me.” 

Twenty-one middle and upper school students signed up to participate in the fair. Each student had a table in the library where they could display the books they brought in and were able to trade or give them to other students.

“I brought in two graphic novels. I read both of them multiple times. But, they are not exactly my favorite type of books. I just wasn’t really into them,” freshman Hannah Harrison said. “I know that there is a large group of people who would enjoy these much more than I do. I really want to try to exchange them and see if we could both benefit from the trade.”

Like Ferraro, Hernandez said she valued hosting a book fair that was not environmentally wasteful and incorporated the concept of upcycling.

“We wanted it to be very inclusive of everyone. So we decided we’re going to do a used book fair where people could come and trade books,” Hernandez said. “We wanted there to be no money spending required and fully upcycled. Some of the books that are going to be left over, the library will keep them, and we’ll use for some programs.”

Ferraro said she aims for her club to host used book fairs biannually and hopes that the events will allow community members to rediscover their love for literature.

“We’re hoping that the turnout is good enough and that the response is good enough to be able to do that,” Ferraro said. “As for the community’s response, I just want people to either be able to rekindle their love for books by coming to this event or to be able to continue to foster that affinity and to keep that love for literature. Who knows what else will come out of it? The beauty of it is that you never really know how it’s going to go, and I’m just hoping there’s a positive response.”