With book-banning on the rise, Scholastic, which hosts an estimated 120,000 school book fairs across the country every year, could have fought back. Instead, it is drawing criticism for backing down to the forces of censorship.
On Oct. 6, The Mary Sue reported that Scholastic was allowing schools to opt out of including diverse books in their book fair offerings. Days later at a New York Comic Con preview party held by Graphix, a Scholastic graphic novels imprint, author Molly Knox Ostertag spoke out against that practice.
Ostertag later tweeted her remarks—which you can read below—describing them as “an earnest plea for the company with whom I have made so many books to do better.” She called on Scholastic “to not give up. To recognize your strength as a powerful company. … To be brave, and strong, like so many of the heroes of the books we make, and not to capitulate or compromise with a small, and unrepresentative group that wants to destroy any stories they personally dislike. I am asking you to be an ally to authors like myself, to the vast majority of parents who do not support book bans, and most importantly, to the kids who need these books more than any of us can imagine.”
Instead, Scholastic released a statement purporting to defend itself against “a number of misconceptions that we want to clarify.” What are those misconceptions? “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.” Okay, so what is the reality? “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.”
So … it’s not that all the diverse titles are in one optional case; it’s that they’re in an “additional collection”? Which is optional?
Scholastic cites the many laws passed in Republican-controlled states to limit what subjects can be taught in schools, banning teaching about race and racism in ways that make right-wing white people uncomfortable and banning even the mention of LGBTQ+ people. “[T]hese 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,” Scholastic noted—so the “additional collection” of diverse titles being segregated from other offerings is for the protection of teachers and librarians. As Ostertag said in her NYCC comments, “It seems to be a good faith effort to protect teachers and librarians, and I understand the reasoning, but I feel the need to stand up tonight and say that I think this is a grave miscalculation.”
Many authors spoke out against the policy after Scholastic’s statement. Here’s Daniel José Older, whose “Dactyl Hill Squad” books were published by Scholastic:
Novelist and legal expert Courtney Milan had a better strategy for Scholastic:
With this policy, Scholastic is following in the footsteps of the College Board, which thought it could appease the likes of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by removing content from its Advanced Placement course in African American Studies. Instead, it emboldened the censors. Under DeSantis, Florida next came for parts of the AP Psychology course. That time, the College Board refused to buckle—and Florida eventually backed down, though some districts still shied away from the course.
Scholastic seems to believe that by taking some diverse books out of the standard book-fair package and segregating them into their own “additional collection,” with “even more high interest titles,” it is threading the needle. But in reality, it’s showing that it will capitulate to threats. And as we’ve seen, the threats and censorship efforts aren’t going to stop—they’re going to escalate. Scholastic thinks it’s taking out the books that the censors want gone, but the likely result is that there will be demands for the removal of more books. Because the bigots have learned that they will win.
Here are Molly Knox Ostertag’s brave, powerful words for her publisher:
I recently learned that Scholastic is self-censoring which books it sends to book fairs, based on local bans and vague state laws around book content that are meant to intimidate. This means that many books from Black and brown authors, books about racial history and racism, LGBTQ stories, disability, activism, and other quote-unquote controversial topics are not making their way to the schools where they are most needed.
I’ve had some internal conversations to try to understand the reasoning for this policy. It seems to be a good faith effort to protect teachers and librarians, and I understand the reasoning, but I feel the need to stand up tonight and say that I think this is a grave miscalculation. It doesn’t come across as anything but an attempt to compromise with, frankly, fascist laws.
So I am entreating Scholastic, specifically the Book Fair Division, to stand up for your authors, your books, and, most importantly, the kids we make these books for. Because books are, very literally, lifelines. There are a million examples—I’ll talk about one.
Trans and nonbinary children have an elevated suicide risk - with over 50% attempting, according to the HRC [Human Rights Campaign] - for the simple reason that they cannot imagine a future for themselves. When we send books that depict that future, we are sending a lifeline. I know. I’ve gotten the emails. From parents, from kids, about how they carried a certain book like a talisman. How it was a friend when they had no friends, and safety when they were not safe, and an escape from a life that was otherwise unbearable.
When you allow a single school official to make a choice, whether out of bigotry or fear, and sever that lifeline - when you make it easy for them to do - it is very literally a matter of life and death.
A battle is being fought over the content of children’s books in America. It is not a battle we have started or chosen. It is being waged by a very small, very loud group of bigots who understand a truth we all know too—books and the ideas they contain are POWERFUL.
This battle is being fought, but it is not even close to over, and I can’t see Scholastic’s recent fair policy as anything but a capitulation.
So what I am entreating you to do tonight is: to not give up. To recognize your strength as a powerful company. To recognize your individual strength as people within that company. To be brave, and strong, like so many of the heroes of the books we make, and not to capitulate or compromise with a small, and unrepresentative group that wants to destroy any stories they personally dislike. I am asking you to be an ally to authors like myself, to the vast majority of parents who do not support book bans, and most importantly, to the kids who need these books more than any of us can imagine. I know you are already doing this in many areas, but I am specifically asking you to reconsider this Fair policy, and to treat your books equally regardless of content that other people have chosen to politicize.
I wish I didn’t need to say this. I don’t think any of us particularly want to be in the fight, but we are. The choice in front of us is how we respond.
Sign the petition: Stop book bans.