[Updated: 10/24, 10:40 a.m. ET: Change.org has posted an action alert about this, complete with an easy automated message you can send to Scholastic.]
Most of us with young children in public school know about Scholastic Book Fairs. Many of us remember them from our own childhoods. Now comes news that Scholastic has banned a book from the fairs because one of the characters has lesbian moms. (Thanks, Roger!)
School Library Journal reports that Scholastic has refused to include Lauren Myracle’s new book Luv Ya Bunches
In this instance, Myracle agreed to change some of the offensive language (mild stuff like “geez,” “crap,” “sucks,” and “oh my God”), but refused to change the character’s two moms:
“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents. “I find that appalling. I understand why they would want to avoid complaint letters—no one likes getting hated on—but shouldn’t they be willing to evaluate the quality of the complaint? What, exactly, are children being protected against here?”
“Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents, just like Milla. It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away,” says Myracle. “In my opinion, it’s not an ‘issue’ at all. The issue, as I see it, is that kids benefit hugely from seeing themselves reflected positively in the books they read. It’s an extremely empowering and validating experience.”
Scholastic says Love Ya Bunches will still be available in their Book Club catalog, and a spokesperson said, “the company will continue monitoring the book’s popularity as well as the input from book fair field representatives to decide whether it should be included in future book fairs.”
That sounds like a call to action for me. Get yourselves to your local book fairs and ask the field reps for Myracle’s book, as well as others that depict LGBT families. You can also try Scholastic Investor Relations:
Investor Relations
Strategic Development
(212) 343-6741
investor_relations@scholastic.com
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2:07 pm
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Becky
on Oct 23rd, 2009
@ 3:05 pm:
I e-mailed them and will share this with open-minded friends and also with my school. I will ask them to contact Scholastic to ask them to offer this book wherever they sell children’s books or, if Scholastic doesn’t change its mind, to take whatever action they feel is right — including not to buy Scholastic books or to find another way to hold a book fair. Thanks for sharing this. What a (positive) drop in the bucket it would be among the thousands of books in the school library or book fair to include this one story.
Dana
on Oct 23rd, 2009
@ 5:47 pm:
Thanks, Becky! I agree–and as I understand it, the book isn’t even primarily “about” having lesbian moms. One of the characters simply has them. Not that it should matter–but it makes the fuss even less understandable.
Penny
on Oct 24th, 2009
@ 2:49 pm:
This book should be available so that all families can discuss issues together. Like sometimes children have two mothers or fathers. No matter that the story is not about a lesbian family, it’s treated very naturally. Please reconsider sending this book to children and adults. This kind of fear makes a big deal over nothing. Our children live in a world of differences — we need to embrace them all and choose our own. I am married to a man.
Liza
on Oct 24th, 2009
@ 11:05 pm:
Ugh.
I wish I’d known this a week ago.
I’m chair of our Scholastic Book Fair, going on last week and next. Already bought 2 books for Noah, and have spent god knows how many hours working on the fair.
Scholastic, I’ve got one school you won’t be coming back to next year.
Dana
on Oct 24th, 2009
@ 11:49 pm:
Well, maybe you’ll have some opportunities for extra feedback to Scholastic. It’s probably good for them to see that not only are LGBT parents buying their books, but they’re even managing whole fairs.
Mombian » Blog Archive » More on the Book Scholastic Banned
on Oct 25th, 2009
@ 6:06 am:
[...] posted Friday about Scholastic’s refusal to include Lauren Myracle’s new book Luv Ya Bunches in their [...]
Julia Moulton
on Oct 26th, 2009
@ 4:39 pm:
As a retired reading teacher; if scholastic books bans a books about Lesbian moms than I ban ever buying or helping at another scholastic book fair.
Scholastic Reverses Position to Exclude Children’s Book With Lesbian Moms - Lez Get Real
on Oct 28th, 2009
@ 11:21 am:
[...] Lesbian Mom Blogger Dana Rudolph, who was instrumental in alerting parents about Scholastics slight … said, “I am pleased Scholastic has decided to include Luv Ya Bunches in its School Book Fairs. It is unfortunate that they initially felt the need to ask Myracle to change the lesbian moms (who play only a minor role in the book) to a mom and a dad, but it is heartening to know that they listened to the more than 4000 people, LGBT and not, who signed Change.org’s petition in support of the author. The upside is that going forward, the company is on record as stating: “We are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents.” I hope that will benefit many authors—and, more importantly, many children—in the future.” [...]