Scholastic Book Fairs gone political

[Anonymous]

Having volunteered at these in the past. Kids regardless of race or ethnicity want to buy
1. toys and trinkets that parents don't want them wasting money on
2. books with popular characters from cartoons/tv/movie/youtube/tiktok are the focus
3. non fiction books with really good pictures and fun facts

And then the rest

so no kids aren't going there searching out books with diverse characters. They would much rather buy a sparkly pen or similar trinket. Now sure they might buy a book if an adult tells them to but it's not like the overwhelming majority of kids are going to seek out some serious books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having volunteered at these in the past. Kids regardless of race or ethnicity want to buy
1. toys and trinkets that parents don't want them wasting money on
2. books with popular characters from cartoons/tv/movie/youtube/tiktok are the focus
3. non fiction books with really good pictures and fun facts

And then the rest

so no kids aren't going there searching out books with diverse characters. They would much rather buy a sparkly pen or similar trinket. Now sure they might buy a book if an adult tells them to but it's not like the overwhelming majority of kids are going to seek out some serious books.

At our school many parents go to the fair with their kids and help pick books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids have to be protected from explicit content like "Home for Meow: Kitten Around"

But what if someone’s family only likes dogs, not cats.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I will make sure my PTA is aware so we can opt in and prominently display books that represent our WHOLE school community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having volunteered at these in the past. Kids regardless of race or ethnicity want to buy
1. toys and trinkets that parents don't want them wasting money on
2. books with popular characters from cartoons/tv/movie/youtube/tiktok are the focus
3. non fiction books with really good pictures and fun facts

And then the rest

so no kids aren't going there searching out books with diverse characters. They would much rather buy a sparkly pen or similar trinket. Now sure they might buy a book if an adult tells them to but it's not like the overwhelming majority of kids are going to seek out some serious books.

Since early elementary my kids has always bought a book or two at the fair. I didn't go with him. He chose this on his own. To sweep this under the rug by saying kids don't care for books is exactly what the nutty parents who want to ban certain books want you to do. If it's a non-issue, keep the books available, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having volunteered at these in the past. Kids regardless of race or ethnicity want to buy
1. toys and trinkets that parents don't want them wasting money on
2. books with popular characters from cartoons/tv/movie/youtube/tiktok are the focus
3. non fiction books with really good pictures and fun facts

And then the rest

so no kids aren't going there searching out books with diverse characters. They would much rather buy a sparkly pen or similar trinket. Now sure they might buy a book if an adult tells them to but it's not like the overwhelming majority of kids are going to seek out some serious books.

At our school many parents go to the fair with their kids and help pick books.

Our school puts a sheet over the display of trinkets and posters and only lets kids buy books during class time. The junk is only available on the family shopping nights - and we still raise tons of money. And we sell a lot of Spanish language books.

[Anonymous]

Part of the problem is that when you "opt in" to receive the case of diverse books, some libraries have been finding that these cases arrive separately, and later, than the other cases. So unfortunately, opting in does not seem like a guarantee that you will receive the full assortment of books.

Depends on where posters are from, but there are a number of independent book fair jobbers that can take the place of Scholastic.

[Anonymous]

We just held a book fair with scholastic and this must have come out right after that..... I can't say I would work with scholastic again if this is how they are approaching introducing children to books..

Parents have every right to be upset or refused to let their children read a book. What they cannot do is refuse to let any parent let their children read that book

A lot of people seem to think that rights only apply to what they want and feel.

[Anonymous]

If what Scholastic is saying is true that their only choices were between removing those books entirely or make them an opt-in collection, I'm not sure what else they could have done and continued to serve a nationwide market. Maybe the answer is to move to an independent, local supplier, but I don't know how feasible or affordable that is for every school (or school district). It's not fair to condemn a nationwide book distributor that has to account for the laws in other states if they want to continue operating at a nationwide level. The blame lies with the elected officials that are passing these book bans, not the teachers, librarians, or book distributors that are forced to respond to the bans.

[Anonymous]

Scholastic has also attempted to censor books for classrooms.

https://www.cbr.com/scholastic-authors-concerns-recanted-cenorship-maggie-tokuda-hall/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If what Scholastic is saying is true that their only choices were between removing those books entirely or make them an opt-in collection, I'm not sure what else they could have done and continued to serve a nationwide market. Maybe the answer is to move to an independent, local supplier, but I don't know how feasible or affordable that is for every school (or school district). It's not fair to condemn a nationwide book distributor that has to account for the laws in other states if they want to continue operating at a nationwide level. The blame lies with the elected officials that are passing these book bans, not the teachers, librarians, or book distributors that are forced to respond to the bans.

They have manufactured this tension. Librarians and book fair sponsors have always had the option of not putting out any books that they are uncomfortable with. None of the many wonderful local/regional independent book fairs have resorted to this nonsense, and I urge anyone who coordinates their school’s PTA to use them. I can vouch for Bedford Falls Book Fairs and Bookworm Plantation (I have never used Scholastic because of the trinkets and the amount of titles that are just media tie-ins).

[Anonymous]

ETA Bookworm Plantation is now Bookworm Central.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is helpful! Thanks for posting.

My kid’s school is doing the scholastic book fair and I dislike the idea of supporting banned kid’s books. As an adult, most of my favorite books have been targeted. This year it’s too late but it’s worthwhile to think about for next year.

You’re welcome. And yes it’s too late for this year (my kids’ book fair was two weeks ago!) but for next year I think it’s important to know that Scholastic is doing the work of those who would ban books. I think all children should be able to see themselves and I think it’s especially egregious that Black history is being carved out. I don’t know much about Lebron James (other than he’s very good at basketball) but it seems just offensive that a book that’s probably pretty innocuous is able to be kept away from kids.

I’m in a position to take my kids to the library and independent book stores whenever, but not everyone has that privilege. This is just gross of Scholastic.

[Anonymous]

There is this place - a place online - where you can: order books!

I will share a little secret with you: it is called

Amazon.com

[Anonymous]

Our conservative area has kids seeking out “diverse books.” IDC whatever. As a volunteer at one, I have to ask if their parent agrees to their buying one with adult content … assuming this is adult content for real and not just because there is an lgbt character. The book is flagged so this question comes up. Not a function of the area I like in, but from scholastic everywhere.

(And all kids would just say yes, but also, one last year enthusiastically listed all of the many authors her parents are supportive of her reading, and she had a bunch of more adult oriented authors)

Whatever people. The kids who want it and talk about it with parents will get those books. A bunch of other kids are buying Naruto, erasers, posters, typical YA novels)