Update: Scholastic Books reverses decision to exclude gay-friendly 'Luv Ya Bunches' from book fairs

On Monday I reported on the controversy around Lauren Mryacle's Luv Ya Bunches, a book for young adults about a diverse group of girls – including one with gay parents – who forge unlikely friendships and alliances at school. Scholastic Books is carrying the book and features it prominently on the cover of its December 2009 Arrow Scholastic Book Clubs catalog, but had said it would ban the book from its Scholastic Book Fairs because the book fails to "meet the norms of the various communities that host the fairs."

Change.org organized a campaign petitioning Scholastic leadership – Richard Robinson (Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Scholastic), Kyle Good (Vice President, Corporate Communications, Scholastic) and Teryl McLane (Senior Manager of Communications, Scholastic Book Fairs) – to change their minds, and I'm happy to report today that as of last night Scholastic has reversed its decision and will include the book in its school book fairs around the country. 4,041 people signed the Change.org petition.

Scholastic issued a statement on its corporate On Our Minds blog last night:

The following is an update on Luv Ya Bunches and Scholastic Book Fairs: Scholastic does not censor books. We review thousands of titles each year for our book clubs and book fairs, and we are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents. In an interview with School Library Journal, Scholastic stated that we are currently carrying Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle in our school book clubs. We also said we were still reviewing the book for possible inclusion in our book fairs. Having completed our review of Luv Ya Bunches, Scholastic Book Fairs will carry the title in our spring fairs for middle school. Scholastic is proud of our long history of providing books that will appeal to the wide range of interests and reading abilities of children in the many diverse cultures and communities we serve. Luv Ya Bunches is just one example.