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. 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.
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.
I just had this conversation with my scholastic rep in August. I told her to bring the books. I would much rather have books that represent all my students even if I anger a white mom or two. The books were mostly black and Hispanic characters and a few LGBTQ+ books. I cannot fathom telling a student that they don’t get to read or buy a book that has characters that represent them and their culture because somebody else doesn’t “agree” with it. Fuck man, let the kids read.
Just like we teach our kids to yell “stranger danger” at creepos, we must train our kids to call over-reaching parents “Karens”.
I will proudly support an army of 4th graders bullying asshole adults.
Stranger Danger has also been proven to be bullshit