Sandy Hook Elementary Was Open, Part Fourteen: The November 2012 Scholastic Book Fair

The students, along with the faculty of Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a well-documented love of reading. This enthusiasm was evident through school-wide events celebrating children’s classics like Stuart Little, becoming the first school in the district to offer Kindles to students through the library, and inviting local figures such as politicians and newscasters to read to the children. Additionally, the school hosted several renowned children’s authors, including Jacqueline Davies, Barbara McClintock, Patricia Polacco, and Tomie DePaola. Dawn Hochsprung, who became principal in 2010, further nurtured this appreciation by dressing up as the Book Fairy, as depicted in the November 23, 2012, print edition of the Newtown Bee:

It’s safe to assume that in early November of 2012, everyone at Sandy Hook Elementary School was looking forward to the upcoming Scholastic Book Fair. This event not only fosters a passion for reading among children but also provides financial benefits to the school. The fair began the day after the school’s 2012 Veterans Day Breakfast and continued throughout the week, as confirmed by the November 8, 2012, edition of the school’s newsletter, The Sandy Hook School Connection:

Much like she had with several other events at the school that year, Dawn Hochsprung took the following photo of the book fair on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, and posted it to her Twitter timeline:

While a single photo of a book fair might seem unremarkable, it significantly reinforces the fact that the school was open, functioning, and quite busy as late as November 2012.

Firstly—and because you just know some doofus is going to bring it up—how do we know that this photo was actually taken inside Sandy Hook Elementary School and not elsewhere? According to “The Sandy Hook School Connection,” the book fair was scheduled to take place in the school’s cafeteria. Based on a number of other photos—as well as the crime scene video taken by police—it’s clear that this is the location seen above. Compare the placement of the clock and the hanging strip just above the clock to the following photo, taken on December 17th, 2009, which shows Newtown Middle School’s choir practicing alongside Sandy Hook School’s 4th-grade choir:

Source: http://photos.newtownbee.com/Journalism/Photos-for-the-week-ending-6/i-wKHFsSS/A

As well as this photo from the Sandy Hook School 2011-2012 scrapbook, taken at the 2011 Veterans Day Breakfast:

And this still frame, taken from the indoor scene processing video filmed by Connecticut State Police:

And how do we know that it was taken in November of 2012? What if it was actually taken way back in 2008, which is when most deniers, without the aid of actual evidence, believe that the school was permanently closed? Even if you are intellectually dishonest enough to perform the mental gymnastics necessary to believe that the timestamp on Twitter is incorrect (or even faked), there are still a number of other reasons that this would be totally impossible. Looking at the items available at this particular book fair, we can see the following:

1. An “Angry Birds” poster. The first “Angry Birds” game was released by Rovio Entertainment in December 2009, meaning that merchandise couldn’t have been available when the school allegedly closed in 2008.
2. This Justin Bieber poster, released in 2010, further confirms the timeline (again, making it impossible for it to have been available for purchase in 2008). I’m sure you all understand how the passage of time works by this point, so I’ll let you do the math from here on out.
3. Another Justin Bieber poster, which is simply a much larger version of the cover art for his single “Boyfriend,” released in March of 2012. I know I just said I’d let you do the math, but that’s a long way from 2008.
4. A “Pete the Cat” display. “Pete the Cat” was self-published in 2008 but wasn’t picked up by a major publisher (HarperCollins) until 2010. This display features artwork from “Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes,” which was released in 2011.

I’m sure there are even more that I’m missing, such as what I believe is a display for “Skippyjon Jones, Class Action,” released in July of 2011. Not that it would matter much, as we wouldn’t need additional items to establish that on November 13th, 2012—one of the four days a Scholastic book fair was scheduled to take place in Sandy Hook Elementary School’s cafeteria—principal Dawn Hochsprung posted a photo of a busy book fair. This photo was taken in what has been confirmed as the school’s cafeteria and features a number of items that did not exist prior to March of 2012.

While it’s possible for a photo from 2012 to include items from 2008, it’s impossible for a photo from 2008 to contain items from 2012. The notion that they were holding book fairs in what deniers would like you to believe is a filthy, abandoned school becomes increasingly absurd the more you review the available materials.

And I’m not even done yet.

For further confirmation that this is indeed a Scholastic book fair from the fall of 2012, one only needs to compare photos other schools have posted from their own fall 2012 Scholastic book fairs. Below are two taken from the Bradley School’s “Scholastic Book Fair – November 2012” online photo album, showcasing a nearly identical lineup of available posters:

Furthermore, and rather surprisingly, this information can be used to date and corroborate the now-ubiquitous photo of Noah Pozner taken in the Sandy Hook School lobby:

Based on what we’ve already seen, and when combined with a number of other indisputable, timestamped elements, we can be absolutely certain that the photo of Noah Pozner was taken at some point between November 13th and November 16th, 2012—during Sandy Hook’s November book fair, just one month before the shooting. Noah was clearly six years old at the time, which is relevant because deniers have long claimed that he—along with some of the other victims—was actually much older in December 2012. That claim, of course, is total nonsense.

Because we can use it as a reference point to ensure we’re looking at a series of photos all taken on the same day, let’s start with what Noah is wearing: a dark brown corduroy jacket with a black Spider-Man t-shirt underneath. As CW Wade of Sandy Hook Facts has pointed out, the shirt is an “Amazing Spider-Man Wall Crawler” youth t-shirt, featuring the live-action Spider-Man played by Andrew Garfield in the 2012 movie of the same name. While the movie was released in July 2012, which helps narrow the timeline, it’s not enough to pin down a specific date. But if you look behind Noah, you’ll see more telling details.

First, in the very top-left of the photo, we can see part of an American flag display created by the school for its annual Veterans Day breakfasts. This display includes photos of some of the veterans in attendance, along with short biographies. For a better view of this display, you can refer to the following photo, published by the Newtown Bee on November 18th, 2011, which shows the display from the 2011 breakfast (I’ve rotated the image for better clarity, hence the watermark looking a bit off):

This display would not be up at any other point during the school year, further confirming that the photo was taken around Veterans Day, which aligns perfectly with the timeline of the November 2012 book fair.

Going back to the photo of Noah, the door just to the right of the flag display also features two stars that are a key part of the school’s Veterans Day breakfast decorations. These stars, which can be clearly seen in other photos from previous Veterans Day events, further verify the timing of this image, placing it within the same period as the November 2012 book fair:

Again, these decorations would not be up at any other point during the school year, as they were specifically created for the Veterans Day event.

On the lower half of the same door, you can just make out a sign advertising the ongoing book fair. This sign matches the “All Star” themed marketing material used by other schools for their fall 2012 Scholastic Book Fairs. Here’s an example from Sinton Elementary in Sinton, TX, showing the same theme:

On the lower half of the same door, you can just make out a sign advertising the on-going book fair. This sign matches the “All Star” themed marketing material used by other schools for their fall 2012 Scholastic Book Fairs. Here’s an example from Sinton Elementary in Sinton, TX:

The “All Star” theme can be confirmed by this document sent to parents by the PTA of H.B. Milnes School in Fair Lawn, NJ, which provides details about their fall 2012 Scholastic Book Fair. This consistent use of the theme across multiple schools further solidifies the fact that Sandy Hook Elementary’s November 2012 book fair was part of the same nationwide event:

The Scholastic Book Fair will be at our school Monday, November 12, 2012 through Wednesday, November 14, 2012 and a special Family Event is scheduled for Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 3pm. The exciting theme for our fall 2012 Book Fair is All-Star Book Fair: Every Reader is a Star!

These themes and marketing materials change from fair to fair, so you would not see this sign in use before or after the fall of 2012. This fact makes it even more impossible for conspiracy theorists to claim that the photo of Noah or the book fair itself could be from any time other than November 2012. The specific “All Star” theme, paired with all the other timestamped elements, eliminates any possibility of a different timeline.

Additional photos of Noah taken that same day reveal even more details. In this one, Noah is still wearing the exact same outfit and sitting in the same spot in the lobby (you can spot the empty library cart just behind his right shoulder in both photos). But here, he’s holding the book Anakin to the Rescue!: Episode II (LEGO Star Wars). This detail provides further evidence of the book fair taking place, as the LEGO Star Wars series was a popular Scholastic offering in the fall of 2012, adding yet another layer of context that places this photo firmly within the correct time frame:

As CW Wade has previously noted (and the book’s Amazon listing confirms), Anakin to the Rescue was released by September 1, 2012, which significantly narrows the timeframe in which this photo could have been taken. But what’s the significance of Noah posing with this book, if any? Fortunately, there’s a third photo from that day—which we can confirm by his clothing—that provides the answer:

Still in the school’s lobby, Noah is now joined by his sisters, both of whom appear to be excited about the books they’re holding onto: Ponyella, released in January 2011, and the paperback version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, released in November 2011. Two of these three books—Ponyella and Anakin to the Rescue!: Episode II (LEGO Star Wars)—can be seen among the items available for purchase at the fall 2012 book fair, as shown in this blog entry from the Fairview Community School Library:

So it’s quite obvious that all three photos of six-year-old Noah were taken at some point during Sandy Hook’s fall book fair, which, once again, absolutely took place in the open school’s functioning cafeteria between November 13th and November 16th, 2012. The evidence is voluminous and undeniable, and there simply is no other explanation that makes any sense in any known reality.

For more in the “Sandy Hook Elementary Was Open” series, please read:

Part One: The Lobby
Part Two: The Obstinate Pen
Part Three: Holiday Decorations And Calendars
Part Four: SMART Technologies
Part Five: Dawn Hochsprung’s Twitter Feed
Part Six: The 2011-2012 Scrapbook
Part Seven: Children’s Authors Visit Sandy Hook
Part Eight: Charitable Causes
Part Nine: The Library
Part Ten: 92 More Photos From Sandy Hook School
Part Eleven: Over 195 Articles Referencing Sandy Hook School, Written Between 2008-2012
Part Twelve: The Glass Display Cases
Part Thirteen: Google Earth
Part Fourteen: The November 2012 Scholastic Book Fair
Part Fifteen: Sandy Hook School Enrollment For 2008-2017
Part Sixteen: School Documents From 2008-2012