School Event Info
Thank you for participating in our River Bend Bookshop Authors in Schools Program!
Our pivot from in-person to virtual events has allowed us to bring authors to many schools and classrooms across Connecticut in one visit. This makes for wonderful events, but can be a little tricky when we are managing orders for delivery around the State.
Please use your school "coupon code" to flag your order for delivery to the correct school. A full list of codes can be found at the bottom of this page.
Event Order FAQs:
My school doesn't have a code listed, what should I do?
Leave us a note in the comments section of your order. We're adding new schools to our Authors in Schools program all the time and doing our best to keep the list current!
I am using a coupon code, but it isn't changing the price, is it broken?
Our "coupon codes" are flagging your order for free delivery to your school. For this author event we are not able to offer discounts on price. Authors in this program do not charge an appearance fee to visit your school, and we do not require schools to meet minimum orders (which can deter under-resourced schools from participating). Our way of compensating authors and publishers for their time is selling their books. We appreciate your support of this program! If you are not able to purchase books, we hope you will support these authors by checking out books from your school or public library. Many of our authors also have titles available for free on Epic, which your student can access through school.
When will my event order be delivered to the school?
This depends on the event, and whether the author has a single book to order, or many books across series and publishers. Typically if an author has 1-3 books available, we order books in advance and can get orders to the school within 3-4 days of the virtual event. When an author has lots of books (for example, Lauren Tarshis has 20 I Survived chapter books, several related non-fiction titles, and 3 graphic novels!) we wait to order books until all student orders are in. It is too tricky to predict exactly which title will be most popular (for Lauren, it was I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863, which is #7 in the series). In this case it takes 7-14 days to fulfill orders.
Will my books be signed by the author?
Right now most authors are sending us signed bookplates (stickers) that we attach inside the front of the book. In order to fill your orders as quickly as possible, authors usually send these bookplates well in advance of the event, so unfortunately, personalization is not available.
May I choose to have my books shipped home?
Yes. We do assume that all school orders will be delivered to the school, so please drop us a note in the comments field so that we know you intended to ship. We'll get your order out as quickly as possible.
May I order books not related to the event?
We prefer to keep event orders focused on the visiting author to streamline our packaging and delivery. Please consider placing a separate order for non-event books, and choose shipping or pick up at the shop (curbside or inside).
The author has more books than you show on the event page, are those available as well?
Some of the fabulous authors we work with have more books than they can count! Dan Gutman, creator of the My Weird School series for early readers, has 90 Weird School books and a board game - and he is still going!! That isn't even his only series. In Dan's case, he is "touring" with his newest release, a middle grade historical fantasy called Houdini and Me. We're specifically promoting his latest book, and included a few of his other books for readers in this age range, and just a few of the newest My Weirder-est School titles, all with his publisher's permission. You're welcome to call the shop if you have questions about a specific title, or place a separate order for the non-event books and choose shipping or pick up at the shop (curbside or inside).
The full list of school "coupon codes" is in this file. If you don't see your school, just leave us a note in the order comments field and we'll take care of it!
