Scholastic Says Schools Can Exclude Diverse Titles From Book Fairs

By Eesha Pendharkar — October 16, 2023 5 min read

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Update: Scholastic has reversed its decision to allow schools to exclude a collection of books about LGBTQ+ characters and Black characters when hosting its book fairs. Read more.

Elementary schools that host Scholastic book fairs can now choose to exclude certain books about race and LGBTQ+ characters issues, the publisher announced in a press release late last week.

In response to several state laws that restrict books and other learning materials related to race, racism, gender, and LGBTQ+ topics in libraries and classrooms, Scholastic—the publisher of several well-known children’s books—announced in a press release late Friday that it was adding an optional collection to the list of books that educators can choose to include or exclude from book fairs.

By separating these 64 books—many about LGBTQ+ characters, civil rights activists, and people of color—into a separate collection called “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice,” the publisher says it allows schools to opt out of offering the titles at a book fair.

Over the past two years, several states have enacted laws limiting the use of classroom and library materials about these topics. That legislation has led to at least 3,362 instances of book bans in U.S. public school classrooms and libraries in the 2022-23 school year, according to PEN America, a free speech advocacy organization. The bans removed student access to 1,557 unique book titles, the latest PEN data says.

Earlier this month, Scholastic took a stance against book bans by signing an open letter opposing book bans, written by PEN America.

However, the publisher said in its press release Friday that, given proliferating legislation that’s leading to increasing restrictions, bans, and challenges, its only choice was to make books about race, gender, or sexuality optional in its book fair collection or not offering them at all.

“We don’t pretend this solution is perfect—but the other option would be to not offer these books at all—which is not something we’d consider,” the press release read.

The list includes some commonly challenged books about civil rights activists, such as I Am Ruby Bridges and Because of You, John Lewis, and She Dared: Malala Yousafzai. Books about Black families and same-sex families are also included in the collection.

To create the list, Scholastic “began with titles we support even as they are the most likely to be restricted,” said Anne Sparkman, senior vice president of corporate communications at Scholastic in an emailed statement to Education Week.

Schools can choose to order specific titles in the collection for the book fair, she said.

“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 Scholastic press release said.

“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.”

Scholastic launched its fairs in 1981, and currently hosts more than 120,000 events annually across the country, according to the publisher’s website.

The complete list of books in Scholastic’s separate collection

This is the list of the 64 book titles for the Scholastic book fair’s “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” collection, according to its fall of 2023 preview, provided to EdWeek. It includes a disclaimer that while it includes most of the books that will be available, “Some books may not be available and there may be some books—not in this preview—sent as substitutes.”