It’s the fall season and that means we are in Scholastic Book Fair season. Schools across the nation are putting bookshelves in libraries as well as gymnasiums for students to shop an array of books from the publishing and educational company. It’s an exciting experience for the majority of students, and a fond memory for a lot of adults.
However, the incident has turned into a controversy after the company behind them reformed its policies to help schools navigate the increasing number of book bans across the U.S. — and was later accused of submitting to the censorship of others.
The allegations began to circulate over TikTok as well as Reddit this month: Scholastic — the billion-dollar company in the field of education that produces and distributes bookslet schools decide not to offer different books during its national book fairs, as per complaints from several librarians at schools.
They stated that Scholastic had put the majority of the books that deal with sexuality and race in a separate display while the schools were able to decide whether or not to purchase the books.
The backlash was quick. Many writers and educators on social media complained that the company had helped in allowing book restrictions and also argued that the company wasn’t taking a firm enough to oppose these restrictions.
Scholastic acknowledged the changes in an announcement that was released on Friday. However, the company also defended its decision. Legislation that has been enacted or is pending across more than thirty states bans certain types of bookstypically “LGBTQIA+” titles as well as books that address the issue of racism in the United States” to be used in schools, according to the company.
Since book fairs are held in schools, and are not subject to supervision from parents, according to the report these laws can create “an almost unsolvable dilemma to stay clear of these titles or risk leaving librarians, teachers and volunteers at risk of losing their jobs, being sued or even prosecuted.”
Scholastic claims it’s working to help schools navigate the complex environment
The company stated that in order to keep providing diverse books, it has created an entirely new series for fairs at elementary schools named “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice.”
“We aren’t saying that this option is the best, however, the alternative would be to not provide the books in any way -that’s not an option we’d think about,” Scholastic said, noting that there are various titles offered at its book fairs. It also said middle school fairs will remain the same.
A Scholastic spokesperson informed NPR that Scholastic has been in contact with customers about the changes to its policy since the beginning of August.
The districts in the schools had questions and worries about how to deal with the new law that in a few cases was in effect during the summer. These discussions, they said were not about what to do about removing certain books from fairs, but about how to ensure fairs are held in a safe manner with the current conditions.
Based on an inventory made available to NPR among some 100 or so titles at this year’s book fair majority of books that deal with issues of gender, race and sexuality are included in the “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” collection.
The case contains about 30 books, in subject matter from to ABCs of Black History to biographies of Rep. John Lewis, Ruby Bridges and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Picture books as well as graphic novels written by the poet Amanda Gorman, civil rights activist and football player Colin Kaepernick, and Jojo Siwa, a performer and online social media star who was gay when she came out during the year 2021. The book is that is based on the PBS animated series Alma’s Way features the story of a Puerto Rican family hunting for a missing tooth in a child’s.
The Scholastic spokesperson claims that moving these titles into a particular category allowed them to add more diverse books into their other collections. The company says the change has been welcomed by schools.
Book bans carry all kinds of risk
The push to ban access to books is “driven by an angry minority who want to censor books,” says the free speech group PEN America. It reported 3,362 instances of book bans during the 2022-’23 school term which is up from the 2,532 bans during the 2021-’22 school year. According to the group, a”ban” as any action that limits access to books. A majority of Americans are against book bans According to an Ipsos/NPR survey.
It states that such bans at libraries and schools are prevalent within Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina However, they these are currently being “modeled and replicated across the nation.”
A lot of districts are still trying to figure out what the new book bans could mean for their libraries and classrooms.
The language of the laws as well as the subsequent legal tussle -caused disorientation, as is the situation of Texas the state where one those laws will be in effect for a short period this month, after an appeals court ruled against an injunction issued by a judge.
A fifth grade instructor in Georgia was dismissed earlier this year due to reading aloud from a book that addressed the stereotypes of gender, according to her, it was selected by the Scholastic book fair. (She appealed her termination to the State Board of Education last month.) Middle school teachers from Texas was fired after she assigned the class an illustration version from the diary of Anne Frank.
Others educators and librarians across the country have experienced threats, harassment and even dismissal in the wake of book bans and protests against critical race theory and other issues of culture war. Some have begun to self-censor as well, whereas others have decided to quit entirely.
Mychal Threets is a librarian from California with a massive social media following, has responded on the Scholastic shift to TikTok.
In his address to his company’s employees, the CEO stated: “We are fighting for the right to read. We celebrate the right to read. Join us. You are the driving force. Use your voice.”
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