Batman 1992 - Zellers - A Word To The Wise 0

[valiantman]

Someone school me on this... what is it?  (If you're from Canada, was it a big deal, little deal, no deal?)

[Brock]

This book was produced in 1992 as a promotional book. I don't think it was a giveaway, but came with three-ring punched paper for school binders.

The book was developed to promote literacy, and was funded by the Government of Canada's Ministry of Multiculturalism and Citizenship. It seems to have been produced in partnership with Zellers, which was a nationwide chain of department stores that ceased operations in 2013. They were a lower mid-range retailer, roughly equivalent to KMart in their market positioning, and I suspect the paper products this was sold with were a "house brand" product. The Zellers connection is evidenced by the inside front cover content.

This is relatively common in Canada, and is typically found in dollar boxes... I stumble across it quite often. Having said that, there is a French-language version of this book that I have never seen in person, and which seems to be much scarcer (pictured).

Let me know if you have any more specific questions. I can't guarantee I'll know the answer, but I'll do my best!

Edited July 15, 2020 by Brock

[david20009]

On 7/16/2020 at 5:01 AM, Brock said:

 It seems to have been produced in partnership with Zellers, which was a nationwide chain of department stores that ceased operations in 2013. They were a lower mid-range retailer, roughly equivalent to KMart in their market positioning,

Ouch.  That is harsh.  Zellers might have been the lower end of the Bay stores but K-Mart level.  Ouch.  
 

I have many a good childhood memory of rifling through the hockey card packs at Zellers and Bi-rite.  Zellers always had the 3 packs of comics too.  Got my 10 nights of the beast Batman out of them.

[valiantman]

On 7/15/2020 at 4:01 PM, Brock said:

This book was produced in 1992 as a promotional book. I don't think it was a giveaway, but came with three-ring punched paper for school binders.

The book was developed to promote literacy, and was funded by the Government of Canada's Ministry of Multiculturalism and Citizenship. It seems to have been produced in partnership with Zellers, which was a nationwide chain of department stores that ceased operations in 2013. They were a lower mid-range retailer, roughly equivalent to KMart in their market positioning, and I suspect the paper products this was sold with were a "house brand" product. The Zellers connection is evidenced by the inside front cover content.

This is relatively common in Canada, and is typically found in dollar boxes... I stumble across it quite often.

Thanks! I found it in my "books I bought that time I drove for 20 days and went 4,000+ miles".  Part of that time was in Canada, and I bought a lot of $1 or less books, so it makes sense that I'd wind up with it.  The price box caught my attention, and I'd never seen one before, so of course $1 later, I forget about it for 3 years and find it again. 

I guess that was USD $0.77 since it was CAD $1.