Scholastic fires back after backlash to diversity 'opt out' at book fairs: An 'almost impossible dilemma'

Scholastic is facing backlash over their new decision to move some books dealing with LGBTQ and race issues into an optional book collection for school book fairs at elementary schools around the country this year.

USA Today reported several librarians and best-selling authors condemned Scholastic on social media, accusing them of caving to political pressure with the "opt out." One middle school librarian in Louisiana even threatened to cancel the annual book fair over the controversy.

Writer and Scholastic employee Olivia Wolfgang-Smith called her employer's decision, "cowardly, demoralizing, and harmful" in a post on X.

PEN America also said in a statement that they were dismayed by the move, and urged Scholastic to explore other options to avoid "being an accessory to government censorship."

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However, Scholastic defended their decision while bemoaning state laws that put restrictions on certain books for young readers.

"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," the publisher wrote in a statement.

Some states have passed laws prohibiting sexually explicit books and the teaching of Critical Race Theory to young children in public schools. Scholastic said state laws create an "impossible dilemma," for publishers. Creating an additional collection, of books with race and gender topics, was intended to help schools navigate this legislation.

"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," the statement continued.

"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," the publisher said.

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There are about 60 books in the collection, according to media reports. The New York Times reported that some books in the collection deal with history, such as "I Am Ruby Bridges," about school integration, and "Because of You, John Lewis," about the civil rights leader’s role in the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Scholastic spokesperson Anne Sparkman told the outlet that schools in every state have included titles from the collection at their fairs.

Scholastic stated they knew this solution wasn't perfect, but they remained committed to providing these books at elementary schools. These titles are still distributed at middle school book fairs, they noted. 

"All children need to see themselves in stories and it is extremely unsettling to consider a world in which they don’t. Scholastic’s commitment remains unshakable to publish and distribute stories representative of ALL voices," Scholastic said.

Scholastic did not immediately return a request for comment.

PEN America reported earlier this year that nearly 1,500 books were banned in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year. 

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