What: Wichita Adult Literacy Council Book Fair

When: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. April 13 and 14.

Where: Sikes Lake Center, Midwestern State University

Information: (940) 766-1954

Admission: Free.

The annual Wichita Adult Literacy Council Book Fair looks like a great opportunity for area readers to get great deals on used books.

“The fundraiser is really for those people who can’t read the books,” said Wichita Adult Literacy Council Executive Director Sara Shelton, “if English isn’t their first language, or they were not able to go to school, or they have a learning disability.

“We sell books to people in hope that they will read them to understand or empathize with the many who cannot.”

The event runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Saturday at the Sikes Lake Center at Midwestern State University.

The rules are simple: paperbacks cost $1, and hardcovers cost $2.

One hundred percent of what the Council makes from the Book Fair and their other fundraisers goes to the cost of supporting their clients and the materials they need, she said.

The Council has about 100 active tutors that serve clients over 7 counties including Wichita, Baylor, Montague and Hardeman.

Clients are very individualized now, Shelton said. Some are working towards getting their GED or getting into college. Some are foreign students at MSU taking advanced classes who need help with their English conversational skills. The council recently began providing tutors to help clients with math.

Their first Book Fair was in 1993, she said, and the process has changed over the years. “Because it’s an all-year long process, not that long ago we had to hire someone to come in two days a week to run it.”

Donated books have to organized into 41 genres, then boxed, set on palates and shrink wrapped. “We have it down to a fine art,” she said.

They also separate their more vintage books to an Amazon.com store, where people can buy year round. The store is titled Wichita Adult Literacy Council.

In addition to a lot of area readers, they also get people from out of town. “We get dealers from D/FW, Austin, Amarillo, Lubbock, Houston, OKC, Kansas and Arizona. They say it’s the best organized they’ve ever been to.”

Shelton said that for 2018, they may have 100,000 books, more than even last year.

While the council doesn’t realize much “profit” from the book fairs, it is still worth it as a community service more than as a fundraiser, she said. “It brings awareness in the community to how important it is to read.”