This is appalling. Scholastic giving the option for schools to opt out of diverse books at book fairs. Diversity and inclusion should be part of education, not erasure and supremacy. Deeply concerning. Strange to publish books and then help to prevent children from reading them #BookSky #Diversity
Scholastic asks, "Do you want to opt out of 'diverse' books at your school's next book fair?" Your participation in white supremacy has never been easier, just uncheck the 'diverse' books box– poof, no problems. 🙄
Scholastic has been accused of bending to right-wing pressure, making having diverse books optional for school book fairs.
I didn't even notice how far to the right my family leaned as a kid, thinking the best of them, books opened my eyes to the fact I was actually being raised by Boggis, Bunce, and Bean... and The Daily Mail did not express the views of very nice people! Sad news Scholastic.
I ran a Scholastic book fair last year. On the plus side our town doesn't have a bookstore and the kids were super excited, on the downside it took a lot of bureaucratic work with Scholastic, they didn't have regional titles and had undisclosed limits on what the school could do with our credits
Also the idea of diverse books being something separate is problematic in itself. It skews the meaning of the word diverse.
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour from Scholastic. I used to love the book fair when it came to my primary school and to think that such an opportunity for kids be so easily influenced by authoritarian political posturing is gross beyond words
Unfortunately, it's about the bottom line. The magatt right would go after Scholastic hammer and tong if they stood their ground to always include diversity and inclusion literature. It makes my blood boil that they did what they did, but endangering their mission is risky.
I grew up in a very pale (read: white) rural area. Books were my only introduction to other cultures & viewpoints. Without them, I probably would have ended up with the same narrow perspective as my family & friends. Books gave me a world I didn't know existed. I think that's what book-banners want.