this post was submitted on 16 Oct 2023
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A Message from Scholastic on U.S. Book Fairs (mediaroom.scholastic.com)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Scholastic found that it either had to give in to the hardliners who wanted to ban books for children or to not allow that, and they seem to have decided to give in.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

From the link:

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 they took all the books with topics that isolationist conservatives believe are bad and corralled them into a separate collection that can be easily excluded by schools. This way, more schools can participate in their book fairs and make Scholastic more money.

Because that’s what’s most important to them.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In the regions that have banned or will ban books legislatively but still ironically hold book fairs, scholastic is letting the schools themselves decide which books to display, rather than including the books in the book fair shipments without notifying the schools first.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

It's exactly this. Teachers are getting arrested over books. Do you want book fairs to end completely because a teacher won't run it because they're afraid a "bad book" might show up and it would be blamed on them?

This is a GOOD thing. Go after the shitty politicians, not Scholastic trying to accommodate this bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They could have at least made this "controversial" collection of books opt-out instead of opt-in.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Opt in makes it less likely a teacher orders it by accident. And they called it things like "stories of inclusivity". It's pretty on the nose that they support these books and are calling out those who wouldn't as being "uninclusive".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

This situation is just so sad.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Just because they're outraged doesn't make them right. Idiots get outraged all the time about things they don't understand. Ask yourself, who is legislating these changes? It's not Scholastic. So why are you acting like they're the ones pushing for this? And ignoring that they didn't call them "banned naughty books". They're called "books on inclusivity". You just want to be outraged instead of thinking it through. Pretty sad on a community about books.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Did you read the article further than the title? It's just a bunch of quotes from people going through the new process. The title is egregious but the content is helpful in understanding why teachers/school admin are frustrated.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

'Do you want people to ignore and fight this censorship by bigots?'

Yes.

Why don't you?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

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.

Land of the free.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not sure how you read this as "they caved."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If the choices are to continue to sell these books at book fairs and to not sell them and they are now allowing schools to not sell them, it seems like they caved, correct?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Did you read their message?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yes. It's opt-in to receive the books tagged as controversial by them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It’s an option to receive books that legislators have declared illegal. They have no choice.

I get where you’re coming from. I agree with you that legislators are mostly stupid asses who should be tarred and feathered. I wouldn’t mind collecting them on an island saturated with their favorite spy tech and watch them do whatever they do with each other. It would be entertaining if they couldn’t harm the rest of us.

But I’ve also taught in public schools. If I worked in one of those states, I wouldn’t sponsor a book fair at all in the current climate. I don’t blame Schklastic for following the law. They didn’t cave. They’re simply making the hard choice to stay in business while they work to change the rules.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's an option in all states to receive books that some legislators have declared illegal in their states.

EDIT: I think there's a misunderstanding between us here. The only issue I'm picking here is that no matter if they made the right choice or not, they did cave/give into the hardliners. Will this choice help book fairs continue and scholastic to make money, definitely. Did they cave though, also I think so.