The Issue with Scholastic’s Optional Diverse Book Section

Scholastic is coming under fire after creating a separate section of their book fair for diverse books that schools are allowed to opt out of. The section is entitled “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” and includes 64 books which are mainly centered around people of color and/or LGBTQ+ topics. But Scholastic is facing pushback, as it seems they are giving schools the choice to censor certain books based off of their content.

The Scholastic Book Fair is a widely known staple for elementary schools, meant to foster an appreciation for reading in young children. On the Scholastic Book Fair website, it states, “Since 1981, we’ve been inspiring kids with the power of book choice, connecting them to their best selves through the expansive, expressive world that’s unlocked by declaring ‘I am a reader.’” But if schools are given the choice to opt out of a certain type of book, true choice is robbed from the young reader. 

Which is why many individuals and organizations are criticizing Scholastic’s choice, describing it as censorship and another facet of not so subtle book banning in the United States. “The inclusion of Black and queer characters, authors, and stories in school book fairs is not optional. We call on Scholastic’s leadership to remove this exclusionary feature and commit to taking meaningful action to protect Black and LGBTQ books” racial justice group Color of Change said in a letter to Scholastic, as reported by ABC News.

ABC News reports that in the first eight months of 2023, there were 695 attempts to censor library materials—attempts that impacted 1,915 individual titles according to the American Library Association. A majority of these titles centered around race, gender, and LGBTQ+ topics.

Conservative groups have been actively attempting to censor specific materials from schools over the last year, especially as Florida governor Ron DeSantis attempts to ban teachers from teaching students anything related to critical race theory and LGBTQ+ issues. 

So by creating an entire section that schools can choose to opt out of, Scholastic has in many ways let the vitriol and hate of conservatives and right-wingers win. The National Black Justice Coalition said Scholastic’s choice was a “disappointing effort to appease a loud minority using politics to attack children and public schools to turn out voters using ignorance, fear, and hate” ABC News reports.

Scholastic has since attempted to do damage control, stating that new laws restricting discussion of race, gender, and sexuality in schools make matters difficult “…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” Scholastic says in an official statement.