The Scholastic Book Fair is facing backlash for choosing to separate books on topics of race and gender from other books at its school fairs as right-wing censorship efforts continue to sweep the country.
The renowned book fair, which schools in the U.S. have hosted for decades, announced an optional book collection in elementary schools containing 64 titles called, “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice.” The collection focuses on books with content on race, gender and sexuality which are banned in some conservative counties and states. Books listed in the new collection include “The ABCs of Black History;” a biography of Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be a Supreme Court Justice; and a book by JoJo Siwa, a singer and YouTube star who announced in 2021 that she is part of the LGBTQIA+ community, according to NPR.
PEN America reported last month that there were 3,362 instances of book bans in classrooms and libraries across the country during the 2022-23 school year. The bans removed more than 1,500 books, according to their report. The bans occurred primarily in Florida, but also in Texas, Missouri, Utah and Pennsylvania.
A liberal mom’s political group called Red Wine and Blue started a petition that has garnered more than 3,300 signatures in opposition to Scholastic’s new collection. The petition continues to urge Scholastic to remove the collection and put the title back with the remainder of the book fair.
“By separating these books into their own collection for ‘opt-in,’ Scholastic is sending a message that the books are problematic and should be avoided. They’re taking the most extreme policies from the most extreme state legislatures and applying them to everyone,” the petition reads.
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