Those Scholastic Books book fairs students and educators everywhere are familiar with seem innocuous enough... but are they too innocuous?
Last week theSchool Library Journal and other sources reported that Scholastic Books is banning Luv Ya Bunches (a young adult novel by Lauren Myracle) from its book fairs because one of the main characters has gay parents and thus fails to "meet the norms of the various communities that host the fairs."
That decree ought to fail to meet the norms of librarians, educators, and parents everywhere.
Luv Ya Bunches is the first in a series of four planned novels about a diverse group of girls – Katie-Rose, Yasaman, Milla, and Violet – with little in common except their flower-inspired names. Amazon.com's product description calls it, "a funny, honest depiction of the shifting alliances and rivalries that shape school days, and of the lasting friendships that blossom from the skirmishes." (Preview the book here). In short: A book that is ultimately about tolerance and acceptance and diversity is being banned from a school book fair near you because one of the characters has gay parents. Does that rub you as wrong as it rubs me?
Scholastic says the book, released on October 1, failed to meet its vetting process because it contains offensive language and same-sex parents of one of the main characters, Milla.
The company sent a letter to Myracle's editor asking the author to omit certain words such as "geez," "crap," "sucks," and "God" (as in, "oh my God") and to alter its plotline to include a heterosexual couple. Myracle agreed to get rid of the offensive language "with the goal—as always—of making the book as available to as many readers as possible," but the deal breaker was changing Milla'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?"
Myracle, who's no stranger to controversy, has appeared on the American Library Association’s top 10 list of most often challenged authors. Still, she's surprised that Scholastic would shy away from a reality that exists in numerous households across the country.
“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 defended the move. “Authors are often given the opportunity to make changes in the books to meet the norms of the various communities that host the fairs,” adds Kyle Good, a Scholastic spokeswoman, explaining that the title will, however, be available in the Scholastic Book Club catalog.
Comments
Do not indoctrinate...er, teach/expose my kids to this behavior until they are of sufficient age to understand FULLY what is being proposed. How about a trade off. You teach and expose the kids to this stuff and I will teach the kids how to shoot skeet at PE......Fair nuff?
I went out with a girl who had two moms. At first it shocked me. We talked about it. She acted fine with it, but over time I realized that she put up a front. She had spent years having to defend her mom, whom she loved, and tolerate the woman her mother chose to spend her life with. What happened to her dad? He had abandoned her mom and broke her heart. Her turning to lesbianism was safer than a relationship with a man. All of it did damage to the little girl who just wanted to be loved and accepted. Homosexual relationships may be considered more "normal" than in years past, but that doesn't make them any better or healthier. Would a book like this have helped my friend when she was young? Maybe. To what extent? Unknown. Perhaps those who are banning the book don't want to experiment with the kids and would rather err on the side of caution as they have done in the past.
No it's not time to boycott Scholastic books, it is time to discuss the detrimental effect that editorial and publisher socio-political bias has on dumbing down our kids.
@Daddy-O I agree that indoctrination is an undesirable outcome but know that while you teach the kids skeet others are teaching hate and intolerance. That anything outside of the "norm" is to be ridiculed and shamed. Most everyone has some aspect of themselves or their family that is outside of what is perceived of as the norm. Teaching tolerance is not indoctrination it's anti indoctrination the current societal doctrine of life expectation has teenage girls and boys risking their health and well being in an effort to both not be noticed in a negative light and to be noticed in a positive light. Acceptance of yourself and others as you are is not destructive or indoctrination, it's healthy.
Agree to eliminate all reference to Christians so as not to indoctrinate my kids in that false religion, and I'll agree to eliminate all reference to things you don't like.
Wow, I'm really disappointed in Scholastic. We're supposed to pretend that these 200,000 kids don't exist because their families bother someone? It sounds like a good series. Thanks for writing this.
Scholastic book fairs aren't the only place you can buy these books, you know.
This is absolutely disgusting! I'm so disappointed in Scholastic!
Just saw the update... This is GREAT news! Thanks to everyone at Change.org who helped sway this corporation to do the right thing. And to the commenters below on the other side of the argument... Seriously? You'd BAN a book from a school book fair because one of the girl characters in the book has gay parents? And you'd dare to call yourself an American all the same?
Scholastic refused to sto anti-Catholic books, maybe they are they are trying to get shoppers back. This is an epic fail. LOVE YA BUNCHES is, in my opinion, a good way to introdcue the concept of homosexual parents.
I will continue to avoid using Scholastic though
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