This past week, Mrs. Nelson’s Book Fair visited HMSA.

Mrs. Nelson’s is a Southern-Californian company that aims to provide “a multitude of books in a store-like setting.” Their rolling bookcases were present at HMSA from April 13th to April 19th. Students were able to visit HMSA’s library (second floor of Building C) during lunch and after school to purchase books.

Mrs. Nelson’s provided a great variety of books from the Hogwarts Library, Star Wars graphic novels, coloring books, classics, and non-fiction books. Some of the newer releases that were on the shelves include Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, Stars Above and Winter by Marissa Meyer. Many popular reads like Andy Weir’s The Martian and Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One were also on sale. In addition, the fair was a great opportunity to purchase books for Required Reading. Animal Farm (Siegler), Of Mice and Men (Siegler), Lord of the Flies (Siegler), To Kill a Mockingbird (Siegler), and The Great Gatsby (Enger) were on sale.

I picked up A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, the first book to win both the prestigious Carnegie Medal for literature and the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration. The Kate Greenaway Medal is attributed to Jim Kay, artist for A Monster Calls; he is also the artist for the new Harry Potter illustrated editions. Obviously, Mrs. Nelson’s employs extremely high quality books that will satisfy wide varieties of literary tastes!

Mrs. Nelson’s was also present at the LA Times Festival of Books at USC on April 9th and 10th, days before hosting the book fair at HMSA.

Elvia Ochoa also attended the book fair. She loved the “fun and wide variety of choices” the event had to offer. She also nostalgically commented that the fair “brought back memories of middle school” book fairs.

Overall, the fair was a wonderful experience. HMSA will receive the funds from the event, and we hope Mrs. Nelson’s returns in the future!