If you were a product of the American public education system, you probably have warm memories about Scholastic book fairs. While a trip down memory lane may be nice, it’s also undeniable that times have changed. Especially when it comes to access to reading materials by students.
Though book bans are hardly anything new. The rise in authors trying to create more diverse literature for kids and teens has caused a spike in books being banned or challenged. This has led to Scholastic issuing a statement on how they intend to deal with these new restrictions.
“There have been a number of misconceptions that we want to clarify about how we have created a path to host Scholastic Book Fairs, even as schools and educators in the U.S. navigate restrictions imposed on them by state legislation and local policy,” the statement says. “The biggest misconception is that Scholastic Book Fairs is putting all diverse titles into one optional case. This is not true, in any school, in any location we serve.”
“There is now enacted or pending legislation in more than 30 U.S. states prohibiting certain kinds of books from being in schools – mostly LGBTQIA+ titles and books that engage with the presence of racism in our country,” the publisher explains. “Because Scholastic Book Fairs are invited into schools, where books can be purchased by kids on their own, these laws create an almost impossible dilemma: back away from these titles or risk making teachers, librarians, and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued, or prosecuted.”
Several teachers over the past few decades have faced charges for reading or assigning banned or challenged books. One of the most recent cases involves an Atlanta teacher that read “My Shadow Is Purple,” by Scott Stuart, to a group of 5th graders. The book explores gender roles and identity through the eyes of a child who describes their shadow as purple. Because as well all know, children have no concept of gender whatsoever.
So the publisher is offering an admittedly imperfect solution. “To continue offering these books, as well as even more high interest titles, we created an additional collection called Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice for our U.S. elementary school fairs. We cannot make a decision for our school partners around what risks they are willing to take, based on the state and local laws that apply to their district, so these topics and this collection have been part of many planning calls that happen in advance of shipping a fair.”
“We don’t pretend this solution is perfect – but the other option would be to not offer these books at all – which is not something we’d consider,” Scholastic explains. However, some argue that standing with teachers and librarians who are fighting tooth a nail to keep books accessible is also an option.
“All children need to see themselves in stories and it is extremely unsettling to consider a world in which they don’t. Scholastic’s commitment remains unshakeable to publish and distribute stories representative of ALL voices,” the statement concludes.
So far this stance is attracting backlash from educators:
As well as Scholastic’s own employees:
Either way, this is a terrifying look at the future if we allow groups to continue to act like marginalized people don’t exist or that they don’t deserve to have a voice. “School House Rock” taught us all that America is a melting pot, it’s time to start acting like it.
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