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Opting Out of Diversity
Scholastic’s cowardly reaction to book bans
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In response to book bans and related legislation targeting librarians and teachers, the Scholastic book fair has now made it easy for schools to affirm that they do not want corrupting books such as You Are Enough, a picture book celebrating our differences and inspired by Down Syndrome advocate Sofia Sanchez. This book, along with about 60 others, are compiled in a collection that schools have to opt in to receive.
The titles are compiled in the collection “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice,” ironically titled when Scholastic tries to sideline even the most innocent books that acknowledge the existence of people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. For example, other targeted books include a biography on education activist Malala Yousafzai and a Caldecott Honor picture book about a little girl and her family by a Peruvian-born author.
Even after opting in, Share Every Story books come wrapped up with warning notes. And for all conservatives’ complaints about how parents should be deciding what their kids read, parents aren’t even given a chance to see these “questionable” books. The titles “aren’t listed in book fair catalogs, even when the school requests the case.”
