The Crowley Room at King’s Daughters Medical Center will betransformed into a modern book store today until 4 p.m. and Fridayfrom 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. to raise money for the hospital’sauxiliary.

For more than a decade, the hospital has hosted four Book Fairsa year to raise funds for the auxiliary to use in its production ofthe “froggy” pillows, which are given to children when they stayovernight, said Joanna Sproles, KDMC Foundation president.

The book fair will feature a wide variety of categories, shesaid. Fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, children’s novels, spiritualand inspiration, educational and reference materials, self-help andcrafting titles, among others, will all be available.

“Most are new titles like you would find at any book store,” shesaid. “There will be several thousand books covering allgenres.”

Approximately 90 percent of the titles are in hardback, but aresignificantly discounted, she said.

“Usually the jacket price is not what you’ll pay,” Sproles said.”It’s usually 20 to 60 percent off the jacket price.”

Aside from books, the sale will also offer CD music sets, bathand body gift sets and educational toys for the children.

“You can find something for anyone’s Christmas list,” Sprolessaid.

The fairs have always been open to the public, but it’s onlybeen in the last few years that increased advertising of the salehas helped spur the public’s interest, she said.

Two of the annual fairs are held only one day while the otherhalf are two-day sales, she said. A one-day sale can generate anaverage of $2,000 to $2,500 for the auxiliary, but the two-dayfairs generally bring in much more.

“For a two-day fair, we have approached the $10,000 mark,”Sproles said. “A lot of people come through the first day and takeit all in and come back the second day to buy.”

The KDMC Auxiliary keeps one-quarter of the sales profits, shesaid, to fund its operations.

“The main purpose of the auxiliary is to meet monthly andconstruct the froggy pillows for the pediatric patients,” Sprolessaid.

The froggy pillows, a hospital tradition for nearly 40 years,are quite popular with the children and even serve as a keepsakefor adults.

“We’ve had adults tell us they still have their froggy pillowsfrom when they were here as children,” Sproles said.

The auxiliary produces approximately 50 pillows a week.

The auxiliary also operates the hospital gift shop, which wasfunded through the book fairs and other fundraisers.