I am someone who was directly affected by the Japanese internment camps. My grandparents were sent away to Heart Mountain and Tule Lake respectively. Tokuda-Hall’s anger is justified. I’ve felt that anger before. It was 75 years ago? There are people still alive who were in those camps. People like my mother and I are still dealing with the repercussions. It disgusts me to no end to see Scholastic (a publisher that built my childhood) try to censor an author’s fully justified anger towards racism. I’ve watched the US try time and time again to bury our stories. Scholastic is actively aiding in that effort.
My grandfather was in Manzanar, and I remember almost no mention of the camps in school, I completely agree that Tokuda-Hall had every right to be upset. The US education system fails its children by lying about these points in history, and it fails those who were directly impacted by denying the reality of that history. I’m so sorry your family went through those atrocities, hopefully if enough of the decedents of people like our grandparents who survived and moved forward in spite of these atrocities keep speaking up, one day people will realize just how much damage was done in these systems.
75 years ago is not long enough for the victims and their families to forget. Or to stop being affected by it! But I guess it doesn't fit with "rah rah usa is the best"
I find it so weird that books are being "banned" when it's just people of colour existing within the story, but lilo and stitch is fine? Not to be that guy, but if lilo and stitch came out today, there would be so many people complaining about its "wokeness".
It's so mind boggling how many people find things "woke" because it's not the traditional white, straight and in a perfect world. When nobody really fits that mold, like AT ALL. And I'd you don't want ypur kids around certain things, then how about you step up and homeschool them. Or just keep them in a bubble?
@@Zombina638In Lilo and Stitch, they literally make American white tourist look like idiots, and there's acknowledgement to the native culture of Hawaii.
Unfortunately, that's how most ⚪ people treat American history. After all, if they admitted that we real Americans exist and invented American Democracy thousands of years before they came here.... That wouldn't reflect well on them, now would it.
I just asked this question, but is this a common theme in the United States? Smithsonian and DK are extremely popular where I live. However, books like that would be appropriately labelled as Non-Fiction History or something like that. I just find it odd that a general history book would be considered diverse... or really any history book, for that matter?
@TiffWaffles Sadly, this is the same place where people were outraged about evolution being taught in science (and still is), any US history is pushed to be omitted or edited because it doesn't show white people at their best. Like slavery, Trail of Tears, Osage Indian murders, anything that doesn't fit their cookie cutter world.
One common thread in hyper-conservatism is a profound self-centeredness and lack of curiosity about other people and places. Unless the history can be directly tied to American history or traditions, they don’t think it’s worth learning. The public school system overwhelmingly focuses on North American history too, so people mostly learn about other countries through war history (unless they look it up on their own time). So yeah, plenty of people are willing to believe that the rest of world history either didn’t happen or doesn’t matter. 😫 (Cries in History Major)
My heart breaks for all these kids, even the white cishet Christian kids, because they a have a right to learn about people different from themselves. But it especially breaks for the kids who are not cishet, white or Christian. I am none of those and I never saw books with people like me growing up.
honestly, i think its even MORE important for kids who arent any of those identities. youre less likely to feel empathetic towards identities that you dont align with, as sad as it is. i would've been so much less ignorant if i had just learned about this stuff in the most basic sense. i used to think slavery and racism as a whole was just eradicated after the jim crow era ended, aside from people throwing slurs every now and again. i only got lucky to know friends who knew more than me, and opened my eyes to it. some people will still refuse to listen regardless of course, but its still important to have out there.
I don't know if people realize this, but the more you villaninize and try to keep things away from people, especially kids, they'll just do it more secretive but they will eventually get to it.
My friends in middle school who werent allowed to read harry potter would make sleepover plans with another friend who owned the books, just to have access to harry potter
@@ReadswithRachelWe did the same with friends that weren't allowed to watch TV. We would say we are going to the park, but would bring them to our house to watch cartoons together and play. Kids will always find a way, if they want something bad enough. It's so sad tho, that we've come to a time that kids are punished for reading of all thing, and are being sneaky with books. With how much older generations are shouting that newer generations only spend time on their phones and on the internet and never read, you'd think they'd be happy younger kids are developing an interest in literature (even tho the content might not agree with their belief).
exactly. kids aren’t stupid, they’re just as cunning as some adults can be. i’ve done this kind of thing , everyone my age i know has done this kind of thing. idk why conservatives think minors can’t think until they hit 18
I would hide books from the library or friends, download videos at the library to USB drives to watch at home when no one was paying attention, eventually I started buying cheap phones and using the McDonald's wifi to download what I wanted and I could watch it in my room, it was a constant fight/strain on our relationship, I never understood why she didn't want me to read or watch what I liked when I was a kid, now I can kinda agree there was some stuff I shouldn't have been looking at when I was 12, but the genuinely inappropriate stuff was demonized along with stuff like magic, any mild violence, romance that wasn't explicit ect.
They do-- that's why it never stops at banning books from library shelves, why they push further and further. They know their control is limited and seek to wholesale eliminate anything they deem a threat to their doctrine. A kid can't seek something out if it's been so thoroughly obliterated that the kid never even hears it exists. That's why pushing back is so critical, because while kids are crafty and resourceful, there's still a limit-- a limit these people are aggressively pushing for.
Most of the “adults” complaining about diverse books are just broadcasting that diversity makes them personally uncomfortable and, instead of examining their own thoughts and feelings to identify the source of their discomfort and growing as people, they make it everyone else’s problem.
The fact that conservative parents are so up in arms about Maggie Tokuda-Hall's book is extra wild to me because the part that mentions racism is literally just the author's note, which 99% of kids will not read. The parents just read it and felt attacked, so they retaliated under the guise of "protecting the children"
It's so disappointing to see Scholastic capitulate to the bigots. It happens everywhere these days. Companies care more about appeasing the bigots than they do supporting diversity and diverse audiences. As someone who loves books, it's scary.
Sadly, these days it is the bigots with all the money which is why they're capitulating. Historically, this has happened before. There is nothing new under the sun. We just now have TH-cam to enlighten us better. So long as there are people in power who would like to pretend that select people do not exist, or shouldn't have rights, this will continue. Did not look any further than the House of Representatives (or the state of US politics in general) to know this will get worse. They are trying to remove the concept that all men are created equal by pretending racism only happened once and a long time ago. They want children to be taught this idea so they chastise anyone that talks about their experiences or their family's experience with it.
I think its what makes Disney's lawsuit against Florida stand out. They aren't going to let the state punish them for disagreeing about LGBT issues. Like....I have plenty of issues with the Mouse Overlord....but the lawsuit is something I'm really glad Disney moved forward with
As a teacher not in the US, the idea of kids being blocked from books that include diversity is horrifying. Students deserve to have books that reflect them. Also, many of those "diverse" stories would enrich so many lives. Especially in the current climate of kids being turned off of reading
This is such a frustrating experience because ugh, I just want my mixed-race lesbian daughter to have a space at school, and while I'm having to deal with AT THE SIXTH GRADE LEVEL, boys either starting physical fights with her to prove she's "just a girl" or trying to kiss/touch her to show she's "not really gay" and getting a slap on the wrist, her ability to read anyone who is like her is being gutted - for what? So conservative white religious folks can sleep better at night, knowing no one who is not like them will ever be shown to their child as a full human worthy of love and kindness and acceptance.
i’m so sorry your daughter is going through such hardships at school, you’re a wonderful mother for backing her up though and helping her to feel loved at home. it’s insane what these people in power can do, i’m so ready for this wave of old men to get out of office so we can start supporting everyone and not be forced to conform to their standards. but that’s the ideal world, unsure how we’ll get there when so many politicians are awful.
The fact that the school is simply slapping these boys on the wrist for their ongoing campaign of sexual harassment and abuse goes to show that there is a huge problem at this school. This is disgusting and I really hope that your daughter is okay. She should never be afraid to be who she is and school should one hundred percent be a safe space for her.
The whole idea that society should listen to parents is based on the assumption that parents are speaking on behalf of their kids. If some parents are selfish enough to speak on their own opinions and only pretend it’s for their kids, while actually trying to prevent their kids from learning, we can safely ignore them without any guilt.
Just sent this to a manager chat, as our book store chain does book fairs. I'm using this "too diverse" list as my next order form for every single elementary book fair we do. I'm so pissed off about this sh!t. I was born in the mid 60s, and my parents never, ever, censored anything I read. I was reading far above grade level by age 5. Scholastic is not the ONLY book fair game in town. Reach out, teachers. Normally I don't mention my employer, but will happily tell you the corporate initials are BAM. Look us up. We bring what TEACHERS ask for. What kids want. Because we want all kids to be represented, to be seen, to be heard. To f*cking READ.
I literally watched someone testify against book banning and he said something that has stuck with me. “Not every book is for every child. Not every book is for every family.” People think that just because a book is not for them means it is not for everyone. That is what angers me. The fact that book fairs are meant to give kids and families an opportunity to get books. When certain books are made optional just because there is something one group does not like them due to their believes, that is what angers me even more. I believe that children deserve to be in books and yet I am not being catered for. I had a childhood that a lot of these banned books show and yet I don’t say to people don’t read them. I grew up with separated parents and with family including myself that have disabilities. I grew up with mental health issues due to what I saw and experienced. I want more people to understand that depression does not just include taking your life. I want people to understand that anxiety is more than just panic attacks. I want people to know that autism is not just being like Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory. I want people to know PTSD does not just occur in soldiers. I am australian and I can’t imagine what it is would be like to go to a library and not be able to find a book due to the themes in it.
6:57 Also the fact that they didn’t include a dragon prince graphic novel due to LBGTQ characters that are in it (Rayla, the girl in the middle of the cover, was adopted by 2 men, both of them on the cover, when her parents disappeared and Callum and Ezra’s aunt has a female partner and Claudia, the girl on the last dragon prince book, has a parameter who is trans, female to male.) makes me sick. I love that show so much and I want to read the novels when I get my hands on them!
8:58 So in order to make it look like they aren’t being discriminatory, they added other books to make it look like it is random books that can be optional.
This video is somber and I am so angry by what they did to Maggie Tokuda-Hall but the feedback she got from someone saying "I do not think hate is an American tradition" made me laugh out loud at how naive or wilfully ignorant that person is. How nice would it be to live in the default, blissfully unaware of anything.
Hate IS very much an American tradition (and the person saying it is even practicing it herself). What is apparently not an American tradition is Acceptance, but people should learn to be better… and this is why this whole book thing is just rage inducing when hateful parents won’t allow their own children the chance to be better than themselves.
@@kaitunelovemonday but as Op said that person is the default, they don't feel it directed at them so therefore does not exist in their minds, hate can possibly be a thing if they never experience it, and they are never self aware enough to know when they are doing it, because it is always with the best of intentions and positivity.
Our country was built off of hate LMAO. Our government worked off of the hate for minority groups, it was written into the constitution that only white men could serve in office and vote. Our country thrived at the expense of black people who were enslaved by white people. Hate is one of the most "American" things out there.
Have these reviewers never been to a museum? The National WWII Museum in New Orleans literally has an entire special exhibit currently on Japanese American WWII veterans and their experiences while struggling with discrimination and the incarceration of themselves and their families in the internment camps. Their regular exhibits are also quite explicit in detailing the differences in treatment between them when compared to German Americans/Italian Americans. Off the top of my head, another great one for walking through the US's history in exclusion of and discrimination towards marginalized groups is NYC's Museum of Chinese in America. There are institutes literally devoted to researching and showcasing how pervasive racism is in US history. "I do not think hate is an American tradition." Rolling my eyes.
Our school definitely didn’t get the diverse collection. I work at a title 1 school with a majority black population. Most kids seemed to buy the little journals and pens instead of books this year. Being in education is so fucking frustrating right now 🙃 the easiest way to get my students to read would be to give them horror or graphic novels tbh.
One of my friends works at a school where the majority of students are First Nations/Indigenous with a minor population of French Canadians (everyone speaks French). A few years ago when Scholastic Canada started incorporating more Indigenous voices into their book fairs, they were a huge hit where she teaches because finally there were books featuring First Nations characters. Obviously book sales were still a thing before this, but most kids love reading books where they can easily identify with the characters. When I went to the Scholastic book fairs, the problem was money since my mum didn't make a lot. I learned that it was better getting a bag of random books than to spend money on one single book and I had enough left over for a bookmark or a cute pencil.
I’m so confused… I thought America abolished racial segregation in the 60s, so why are the books with POC characters separated from the rest? So fucking ironic people are claiming America doesn’t have a tradition of racism when it seems we still can’t even put POC author’s books on the same shelves as the white authors.
I do want to give a small shout out to the Catholic school my kid goes to for having the "diverse books" section at their Scholastic book fair. I'm in Canada though so it's a tad different. My kids go to Catholic school because they have the safest schools in terms of anti-bullying policies. I'm not Catholic but my husband was baptized so she's "eligible" that way lol. As a deconstructing ex-fundie, pan woman...it brings me a lot of joy to see a traditionally oppressive environment being open to sharing those books with their students.
Oh hey! I am also a Canadian and I went to a Catholic school. Do we know if Canadian school libraries have to pick and choose the books they get at our book fairs, too?
@@TiffWafflesI looked it up and the answer was no. This was just an American initiative. They could try here, but I can’t see this flying with our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly the Equality Rights section.
Growing up Catholic, we were told what not to read all the time and my mom was not about that. I’m so sick of these people thinking they have the right to dictate what other people and their kids should be allowed to have access to. It’s not right.
Parents already tried coming for the bookstores in my state. They didn't want kids to be able to access A Court of Mist And Fury citing obscenity laws which are hard to enforce because they're based on general public perception and whether the *obscene thing* is accessible to the public....in a private retailer where it doesn't really apply.
Wait they went for public bookstores?? I've read ACOMAF. I understand not wanting that book in the elementary school library, there are explicit sex scenes, and while I personally would not dream of banning any book in any place-- I understand why some parents would be upset. But in PUBLIC LIBRARIES?!?! Do these people not realize if their kid is buying a book they do not approve of its their kids fault and not the library's? Plus its not like its the elementary schoolers purchasing the book at the bookstore, as Rachel pointed out in her video. I swear they hide behind "we don't want the KIDS to access" because their real belief is "I don't want ANYONE to access this book because it goes against MY idea of morality"
I'm a sped teacher and I keep a student library that my students are more than welcome to borrow any books from. My most popular are The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a Spiderman: Miles Morales graphic novel.
Hold up I missed that bit about trying to remove the theme of racism from a book set in a Japanese internment camp- that’s INSANE I feel like they looked me in the eye and gaslit me lmao Edit: I was the person to tell my North Carolina classes about internment cause the south doesn’t talk about that
Its really sad whats happening to our schools. When I studied to be an art teacher i was so happy to see the world changing for the better. A school experience more accepting than my own experiences. I consider myself nonbinary but with the rise in school violence and the "lgbt witch hunt" going on in our schools I just dont feel safe to be my authentic self. As a teacher I dont feel safe. As an ADULT. Imagine how children feel when they are looking to validated, safe, and accepted. My students are 97% diverse. How does the sanitization of diverse themes in art (visual and literary) serve my students?
"Dash" by Kirby Larson is a story about a girl who gets separated from her dog because of the interment camps and her experience within them. Guess where I got it when I was still in elementary school. Scholastic. And I am willing to bet they would either only bring willing offer it only within their "diverse package" or not at all. This book is how I learned about the Japanese interment camps. If they could do better right or so years ago, they can do better now.
My kids school (MO) did not opt in to diversity and the available books were absolutely abysmal. I wish these horrible people would realize that variety is absolutely the spice of life and they are not only hurting people (which I know they don’t care about), but they are also making the world a darker and more boring place.
I don't think a lot of them would agree with it, seems like the goal is to homogenise everyone into cookie cutter people, mostly the same race with the same race and no intermingle, no trans people, no other sexualities, no other religions, no disabilities, no mental health struggles, just everyone being the same and looking mostly the same.
Seeing the Smithsonian History book in the "diverse" group reminded me of that one time, growing up fundie lite, I wanted to watch a documentary on the Free Speech Channel and found it was blocked. Lol 😢
That Smithsonian History book is something that I feel I would have bought if I was a kid if I had the money saved up for it, especially since I was (and am) obsessed with history, but for it to be considered diverse...? Is this a common theme in the United States? I come from a different country where this would have been labelled as General History Non-Fiction or something at my school library's scholastic book fair.
This is so sad. My mom was a elementary school librarian (recently retired) and was constantly harassed by the same kind of people who attend your school board meetings. Her district and administrators basically gave in and now it looks like the publishers are too. I really appreciate your channel and other people speaking out against this.
They’re already tried to ban books in stores in VA. Tried to ban Gender Queer and, funnily enough, A Court of Mist and Fury from being sold at all B&N in the entire state.
I work at a library and we have a lot of these books. I read Love in the Library and have put it on display several times. It's a wonderful book. I think last month we had a banned books display (for adults and kids), and currently we have a disablility visibility display for kids. Sometimes we get complaints about our books and displays...but more often than not we get happy children and parents thanking us for putting up books their children can see themselves in. That latter group greatly outnumbers the first, no matter how loud and annoying that first group is.
Damn that "oh you can buy any book you want we're not banning it" argument made me SO mad. Free libraries are, first and foremost, for people who CAN'T BUY books, Karen! Not everyone have resources to buy any literature they want, and children's libraries are far more accessible, even when they're not free, than buying every book yourself. You ARE, in fact, effectively banning it for people who need support the most. If you're so rich you can actually buy ANY book you want, your kids DON'T EVEN NEED TO BE IN A LIBRARY! THEY CAN READ AT HOME where you know for sure there's no "inappropriate" literature on the shelves. Gosh I wanted to be there and tell her that.
This is killing me. I grew up like you, Rachel, and seeing how little anyone not cis, white, hetero, christian is regarded; how we’re erased at every turn, and crushed for wanting representation… I have very little fight left in me. I just want to see it all burn.
Man I remember scholastic bookfair so fondly in my childhood/elementary memories. I remember the little newpaper they would give out to the students that showed ALL the books and items that were going to be sold at the fair. I would look through it for hours everyday up til the fair day trying to decide what ONE book I was going buy because I also grew up poor and scrounging every coin I could find just to afford that one book when there were so many good options. My last year in middle school was the last time I went to Scholastic Book Fair, and It was the only year I saved up to get 3 books, which for some kids was little but for me was HUGE deal. I didn't even know there was a diverse option TO OPT OUT of diverse books for scholastic, the fact there is even an OPT OUT option at all is ridiculous to me. You shouldn't get to OPT out of young black, latine, muslim, etc kids and their stories/voices/history from existing in books. Disappointing to see Scholastic fall so low. My cousin's kids (who are Mexican and black) are starting a new school next fall and their new school has scholastic bookfair, I was hoping to take them there because I wanted them to experience the joy their mother and I had. Now I don't know if I want to, looking into up better book fairs for kids in our area.
I didn't realise that there was an opt out option, either. Scholastic book fairs are a huge thing in my country as well and to realise that this publishing company actively refuses to put books out for children solely because they are with diverse characters or written by authors who don't fit in with a specific mould is absolutely vile.
there was a decade ago. My mom taught 5th grade and it was one of the reasons she liked them. They allowed her to bring in ideas to the classroom kids needed to hear.
Maggie's letter/post is so powerful, I'm beyond amazed by her writing and her courage to stand up and speak out especially given the fears she pointed out. I hope to see more from her in the future and I'm seriously considering buying this book for my mom's classroom!
Even tho I have never agreed with book banning, I’ll admit that I have never been proactive in fighting it. But while watching this video I decided to look into the state of things in my state. I live in Arkansas and found out that a state Senator tried to pass a law that allowed book banning in book stores and public libraries. 😳 thankfully a federal judge denied it a couple months ago
This is so outrageous. I hate that people rather teach hate and ruin the world for everyone else just because they feel uncomfortable? How did some get so entitled? Why did we let them get this entitled in the first place? When I say this sentence, I do not need to brag. I just genuinely feel lucky that I live in a town that cares about diversity and opposes book bannings.We still have a lot of work to do, but at least our local library has books like “love in a library” that gets checked out. We have librarians actively making sure we do not exclude people. Again, not perfect. But better than what Scholastic is doing by ten miles. I live in a small town that has many problems, but people are very supportive of the LGBT+ community and people of color which does not happen a lot in small towns so I am grateful for that. I hate how many parents, teachers, librarians, etc. have to live with this and fight to be included in the conversation.
I'm Canadian, so this doesn't entirely effect me or my kid. But I have decided to not support or buy through Scholastic when they decided to ship through a third party rather than Canada Post. This couce was incredibly inconvenient, as it meant my package being left on a porch rather than being put in a community mailbox (which has insurance, so packages that are stolen can be replaced). Hearing this now, I think I'll continue to shop elsewhere in solidarity with Ameeican families. I appreciate this video, and the work that you do! Love from Canada :)
I work in Cobb county schools as does my sister as an Art teacher. It's not just what you read to students in class. You have to have EVERYTHING you bring into the classroom that's not curriculum approved before you can teach it. Guess what subject typically doesn't have a curriculum attached. My sister has to have approval for everything she teaches. She could literally be fired if she shows her kids something she didn't pass by the approval board, even Starry Night or the Mona Lisa. And the approval process takes about a month. We live in a dystopia.
O_o I'm *baffled* by this choice because I remember Scholastic being a huge thing for me in St. Ambrose. It's a Catholic Private school and they had all the books that are considered "diverse" according to today's standards. I remember that World History book that she showed, and it would be normal to see children of color on a lot of those books. So.... Like.... Scholastics... why the fuck are you doing this? So like... holy shit.
Same, the book fair, and reading in general, was a major escape for me, to think scholastic is catering to hateful beliefs is pretty depressing. Those books kept me sane. This censorship is going to really hurt the next generation.
@@wolfegirl1013 No kidding. This really is feeling like a timeline where we'll be living in a world of Fahrenheit 451. It was explained in the book that it started off like this in a way and it just snowballed to worse and worse.
@@Merdragoon I'm terrified for the next election, although I live in a safe community, there are many racist(kkk)/homophobic spots nearby that are becoming pretty vocal. My partner (white passing) and I once had a man we were having a normal discussion with go on a rant about Latino and queer people(he at least seemed open to queer people, mostly talking about how he never saw it growing up, but did listen a bit to our carefully worded explanation. This is what happens when people grow up not exposed to diversity/being told it's wrong). This happened in California. No one acknowledges it. Hate is becoming more acceptabled to the point where it's considered "radical" to want trans people to have access to healthcare and equal rights to queer people without fear of a hate attack. At least when I was growing up in a horrific catholic school, they pretended to not be an abusive place for any queer/nonwhite students. I'm sure they're loving this political climate, leaving the kids they raised to hate themselves scared to exist. A queer friend from there who actually stood up for me recently k*lled herself and I only learned because it made the news. I haven't had contact with friends from there for years, but I hope they're doing better than before. Hate is learned, it's not our default. The next generation is screwed if this censorship is allowed. Diverse stories matter and save lives. Kids need to know there's nothing wrong with them, and by isolating them from any media that represents them it's setting them up for internalized hate. We need to protect Queer and POC youth. Sorry for the rant, I'm really tired of seeing hate so normalized
The US has a long tradition of racism. America is two continents. We need to remember that "Americans" are the people who have been here for upwards of 30,000 years and it's technically furthering real Americans' genocide when we refer to colonizers as "Americans" (and especially how people default that to ⚪) and demand that the real Americans be an "Other (Native) American".
Thank you so much for this video. As a social worker who previously lived in both Florida and Indiana: the book banners will never stop in just the classroom. They'll never be satisfied until marginalized voices are completely silenced... and it'll only be a matter of time until THEY will also be silenced, but they don't believe it'll ever happen to them.
Took my neice to her school's Scholastic book fair a couple weeks ago, she also goes to a K-8 school. They got the elementary school fair with a single case of middle school books. They did not get the diversity collection (I was looking for it) and I didn't see any diversity on those 8 shelves. Our trip involved a lot of questions and some anger shouting. It breaks my heart and enrages me they are doing this. I remember the first time I was able to buy a book at a fair. I still have it and would happily use it to paper cut all the folks who signed off bigoting the fair.
Oh my god, this is horrific. Thanks for spreading awareness. Definitely going to buy Love in the Library next week for my neighborhood little free library.
I have fond memories of Scholastic growing up, but never because of the books, since they were almost all heavily gendered at the time and my nonbiney ass couldn’t have found anything more boring. And because most of what was there looked so soulless, even to me as an elementary schooler. Because of the lack of diversity, I only ever enjoyed the book fair for cool pens and the games our librarians added for when kids stopped by. Most of the books in the “Diverse” section looked like they had so much heart in them, probably because they were written by authors who understood going to the book fair and not finding any stories with people like them. The fact that scholastic is only platforming the safe books is not only harming their sales, but harming kids who can’t see themselves in books deemed unproblematic by the right. I’m honestly lucky that I could check out books on Kindle unfettered growing up, because otherwise I don’t know if my love of books would’ve survived that long seeing mostly the same old scholastic books that only ever talked about white boys that were masculine and a little mean or white girls who were feminine and a little bratty. Or cats. But to be fair, the cats were the only books I might’ve considered picking up back then.
My local library system is “re-evaluating” our digital resources and essentially making it so ebooks aren’t available because queer books were available. And the library system has stopped their subscription to ALA because of “Marxist ideology”. So that resource is gone. Of course, it’s in Florida.
The book fair was a damn treat when I was a kid. Even if I didn't get to buy anything, it was still fun. This is a fkn tragedy. I hate that we're at this spot in our history. Those crying out because they don't want to be censored are the ones censoring everyone they don't like.
I really appreciate you bringing this topic to my attention, Rachel, thank you. I don't have any kids myself, so I really haven't been directly involved with schools for a long time. I very much care about kids and their opportunities though, and Scholastic giving in to the demands of bigotry at the costs of opportunities for children is just vile. Kids deserve the chance to build empathy and expand their world by seeing and reading about characters who are different than themselves, and they deserve the validation that comes with seeing themselves reflected back in the stories they read. Both are so, so important for building healthy, diverse communities! I guess that's why the diverse stories are a target of the bigotry at all...
A book about a Black child is not diverse. It's just not. An individual cannot be diverse. I hate it when companies say things like "we want to hire this person because they're diverse" or something along those lines. Populations are diverse. Individuals are not. And labeling people or books as "diverse" is othering for no reason. And in this case, if Scholastic wanted an opt-in "diverse" option, the "non-diverse" option would have to be tailored to the school. Because a bunch of books about White people is diverse for schools that are not predominantly white. This whole thing is stupid. "I don't want my kids buying that book at the book fair." Then don't give them the money to do so? It's not like elementary kids have money. This whole thing makes me so mad.
Years ago, when Scholastic pretty much stopped printing the old American Girl books, and eliminated over 90% of Royal Diaries and Dear America books, I was devastated. It was these books that got me into history, and it was these books I was able to find the most diversity as a female POC child in the 90s and 2000s. This dumbing down on diversity has been going on with Scholastic far longer than you think.
this is so depressing and i don't even have kids in school yet..... i love the comment about reaching out to local bookstores for book fairs. In my area we had a new local book store open up and they're so lovely it would make me happy to see them doing school fairs
I actually got that same ruby bridges book at the scholastic book fair when I was in elementary school. It was one of my favorites. It’s really sad to know that kids are being deprived of learning about such important things based on parents who are offended by the real world.
This is actually heartbreaking as someone who grew up not having much representation at book fairs and libraries aside from slave and black trauma books. I didn't realize how much not having PoC characters or voices effected me until I started writing in HS and noticed that I visualizing most of the main cast as white, not me or my friends or parents. Took a lot of readjusting to unlearn that. Its horrid that young PoC and LGBTQIA+ readers have to deal with this erasure that will be so detrimental to them in the near future. Book banners need to take the fckn hypocritical christian stick out of their ass and let the children read what they want. Especially in an age where the INTERNET EXISTS. They need to give up the illusion that they can "protect" their kids from the stories of marginalized people that expose the racism and discrimination that is permanently marked in America's history in particular.
The authors who are included in the "opt out diversity" box should have the right to sue. Scholastic is not only hurting their sales but purposely interfering with their books reaching their audience. This is such bullshit and I'm glad teachers (who knows their students BETTER than these corporate heads) are speaking up about it. Side note: I had a teacher in sixth grade who rebelled against the secular library in school by having her own personal book collection in class. And I'm grateful that she did, because the library selection was so boring and narrow with no diversity whatsoever.
What that teacher said about differences is such a word. People love to act like differences are the root of all evil so people should conform when it's not the case. If you're mad someone is different in a way that has nothing to do with you then it's a you problem, you're the one sowing strife, not the person whose different and standing in proud in the fact they are different. It's the same thing when people try to tell minorities that shouldn't be hurt by something. The thing causing anger isn't the person being mad that feel wronged, it's the person whose trying to mitigate how they feel because they personally don't see an issue. Like imagine you get cut and someone tells you to just let it go because it doesn't matter.
Like, it’s not our job as a society to enable these people. It’s our job to make sure kids can access education and resources regardless what their parents want. Parents voices just do not matter if they aren’t doing their job and speaking for their kids and I’m tired of everyone pretending we should care about what some racist parent doesn’t want their kid to read. That kid is not the parent’s personal toy, it’s a real live human person who is supposed to become a functioning member of society one day.
Personally, I refuse to enable them. You wanna act like that? Go home school junior. And when junior has a panic attack because the world isn't the cotton candy coated place you told him it was, you pay for the medical bill. Not me. Not teachers. Not anyone else. I'm not being responsible for your weird kids.
I hate hate hate how much religion is getting involved into politics AND education. Especially in USA. Our ancestors didn't survive the dark ages and then in later centries fought for their rights and removal of church from their everyday lives and political sphere. And yet here we are, again, our choices being controlled by people that are "preaching" the word of god. I'm all for religious freedom, as long as that doesn't ecroach on other peoples freedom to their religious belief (as long as that belief isn't hurting other people, religious sects for example that brain wash their kids and marry them off as kids) or ecroach on other peoples freedom to opt out of religion all together. If you want more diverse books you are called insensitive by religious nuts because you are insensitive to their belief, while they never think that they forcing the removal of diverse books is also insensitive to freedom of people to let their kids read diverse books, if they so please.
These Confederate REPUBLICANS are not true Christians but poiitical vampires. The repulsive Republican Party have embrace slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow apartheid laws, and the evils of white nationalism. They are a malignant cancer that must be exoposed and redicule in every State. They hate the word Woke, which Fat head governor Desantis lawyer explain as people who believe in equal rights and equal justice and fairness. Florida is a Confederate Republican run State. 😎😌
When I was a child, and still now, Ruby Bridges was my HERO. Ever since I learned about her at age 7 I have thought she’s the most amazing person I’d ever heard of. I read every picture book about her then every chapter book and watched the movie based on her story. If I wasn’t allowed to read about her with books from the school library I would have been devastated. Couldn’t believe hers was one of the stories in the “opt in”
Man... "America has a tradition of racism" doesn't mean that each and every American is prejudiced in the same exact way, as it's saying that America has a tradition of being xenophobic and weaponizing xenophobia. The way I interpreted it is not personal... and if it IS personal, it's offering people a challenge to defy the inherited sickness. I don't think I learned about internment camps until high school history class; it wouldn't have been a bad thing if I learned about it sooner, and was aware of it. The teen show on Netflix "Never Have I Ever" has a character who talks about his family's history with the internment camps. It's not a bad thing to talk about it! ugh
If we do not discuss them, we run the risk of re-offending in those heinous ways. Humans do not live in a vacuum. Sadly, we are often tempted to hurt others. It's human nature. We're going to do it, especially when we see others starting the horrible, abusive cycles. But if we educate ourselves and arm ourselves with power, then we're stronger for next time. I cannot say we'll be perfect... But if not taught to resist hate, we'll very quickly learn to hate.
This 'Julie' person, what right does she have to dictate what a library or book receptacle can put on it's shelves? Or what books a child should or shouldn't read? Parents and adults should stop dictating to their children what they can and can't read, it's time that kids were permitted to make their own decisions and judgements, instead of parents pushing their agendas on children and libraries, like this Julie person!
... I wish I had been able to have access to inclusive books and media when I was a child. It would've helped me so much trough my journey. I struggled with mental health for more than 20 years, looking different than most, loving different than most, it was a rough time growing up! So, so many children could be saved so much trouble and distress if only they could see others are out there, FEELING JUST LIKE THEY FEEL, so they know they're not alone. Edit: sorry english is not my first language I hope I can express myself here.
I'm somewhat in favor of schools being able to pick their Scholastic collections for book fairs, but it should be more broad than having to opt-in for more than "only English language books about white people and animals" obviously. Like, let schools select the "graphic novels" package if they know they have a lot of graphic novel readers (obviously still includes other books, but an extra batch of graphic novels because they'll sell), or the "interactive books" package with journals and stuff, or getting a majority of books not in English for schools with a lot of ESL kids. Making it easier for schools to cater to what their kids WANT to read in order to encourage those kids TO read. It doesn't have to be a "diversity? yes/no" option, that should come baked in, but some customization options would give the book fair a nice boost i bet.
Thank you for covering this. It’s hard to keep up with exactly what’s going on and having it summarized in this way is incredibly helpful. Keep on fighting the good fight ❤
Such an important discussion to be having! Thank you Rachel. I know this topic can be frustrating, because these people know freedom is given through knowledge and the process of learning. If the library and interesting books where I saw myself there in the words on the page weren’t available to me when I was a kid, I don’t know if I would be here today! Thank you again, your evidence is extremely compelling and the librarian sharing their book fair experience was really eye opening. I can only tell you that there are thousands of us who stand with you and know children should have the world in its full beauty available at their library, whatever some parents think, their kids should have the right to explore all cultures and human experiences.
Scholastic: We need to remove racism. Authors: We agree, racism has been a scourge on our country which has caused incalculable harm. Scholastic: Oh sorry I meant we need to remove the word Racism from your books. We aren't concerned about actual racism.
The sad thing about this is that most of those books would have been perfectly fine to be sold with everything else when I was a kid. In fact it was celebrated to have diverse books it pains me to know the mere presence of characters that aren’t white, straight, or even Christian, can make them an Optional book.
I was always so excited for the scholastic book fair as a kid, especially when it came to graphic novels and fantasy series, it’s one of the reasons I’m currently doing a minor in comic studies. It just really sucks to see how a poor selection of books could easily drive a lot of kids away from reading as a whole.
The "diverse" books from Scholastic Book Fair...are some in there just because theres ONE character of color?! Or its written by a person of color??!! Like there were SO MANY that i didnt even get....ONE WAS ABOUT A CAT!!
i don't mean this in a "getting on my high horse" way but the fact that the big book fairs for children are organized and controlled by a big corporation sounds like a parody of america. i hope there can be other, public, book fairs around. kids deserve better.
So grateful that California teachers have such a strong union protecting us because my classroom library will always have diverse books. I just hope these new bills will strengthen teacher’s unions in states that don’t have regional chapters that protect these teachers. ❤
If someone tells you they just want to protect their own children and their own parenting rights, so they want the books gine only from the school library, DO NOT believe them. Even if they mean it, their peers don't, their organizers / patrons don't. They'll move the goalposts, "reasonably" ask for books to be separated, sealed, not sold near the school, the stores marked. They'll make those stores ban children or restrict those sections, ban advertising of the books, put pressure on the stores to stop selling them until publishers won't pick up the diverse stories or until the public agrees to a proper book burning because they believe the content is harmful. With love, from a place where teens can't browse classic literature and cookbooks in the biggest bookstores, only the children's section.
This made me sad. Scholastic was a huge part of my childhood. What they did with the school fairs and that author was disgusting. Her author's note on racism was spot on. Racism is so ingrained in American culture that if you speak up against it, you're unpatriotic! My local school board is majority republican and there's an election Tues. I'm voting blue.
I think the point of the elementary school kids buying books for themselves is because often when the book fair is happening you’ll have classroom time to shop. My parents would send us to school that day with book fair money, they didn’t see what we were buying until we got home. I imagine that the problem would be parents who sent their kids to school with book fair money being upset if they’re child came home with a book they found objectionable. The same way they’re upset those books are in the library, they think the school shouldn’t be offering those books to their kids and since the book fair is inside the school the same thing applies. I don’t agree but I think this is where scholastic is trying to protect itself because they know that some kids shop the book fair during the school day without parental supervision.
Seeing this is feeding my doomerism, I know there are many good people out there but like sometimes I just hate humans, why should a teacher be fired for reading a book with different gender expressions in it, it's good for children, they will be healthier adults, we're in hell. Edi: Okay, I hadn't gotten to the Maggie part and now I'm crying, she shouldn't have to deal with the choice between experiences she and her family had gone through and her career.
It’s so upsetting that some people refuse to parent their children and take responsibility for how they want to raise them. Acting like getting “inappropriate books” out of the reach of children is their real purpose? That’s like saying you don’t want your kid eating sugar so you advocate for grocery stores and gas stations to take candy off the shelves. They’re hateful and using kids and fake morals as a shield
Does anyone know of a way to purchase the “banned” books for underprivileged kids, especially children of color? I just hate that they didn’t get the opportunity to buy these books. This whole thing makes me sick.
Maggie didn’t come to play! 🙌🏾 I haven’t read the book but she’s clearly a fantastic, passionate, and eloquent writer. Everything she said, I was like preach!!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 That author’s note didn’t do anything but tell the truth. It’s infuriating they tried to censor her and heartbreaking that POC are forced to make these kinds of decisions between getting recognition and watering down their work so white people don’t get upset. Her grandparents real life story is upsetting to them? How do they think it felt to her grandparents? They deserve for their story to be told. People get more offended by the word racism than actual racism. And that part about wanting to feature POC stories while watering them down and making them palatable to white readers is spot on. I admire her for putting her foot down and speaking the truth. We can love our country and also be critical of its horrific past. As a Black woman, I know that all too well. Somebody please show me the proof that racism isn’t a tradition in the U.S. I’ll wait. Also, “White supremacy shaming”?!?! Get the entire F@&k out of here. 🤬
14:45 in elementary school, i definitely had a not-insignificant amount of money my parents didn't know about. a lot of kids are little business mogels! i used to sit outside at recess and sell little flower crowns / bracelets that i hand wove from the flowers in the field for like 50 cents each! i was also artistic even back then and used to sell pencil sketches for a few bucks to my classmates! doing that for a while, i definitely bought a few books and posters that weren't paid for by my parents :p also, sometimes kids with rich parents would just give you money for fun, especially when the large majority of my school was low income LOL. they'd hear "oh, we don't have much money" and feel the need to share! kids will find a way to make money with or without parental supervision
I’ve said it before, the “non diverse”option should be 100% Black children in the books. There’s your no diversity.
(I hate how this all plays into the idea that white is default)
^that last part, exactly
Lmao I'd love this so much
that would be so funny lmaooooo
I am someone who was directly affected by the Japanese internment camps. My grandparents were sent away to Heart Mountain and Tule Lake respectively. Tokuda-Hall’s anger is justified. I’ve felt that anger before. It was 75 years ago? There are people still alive who were in those camps. People like my mother and I are still dealing with the repercussions. It disgusts me to no end to see Scholastic (a publisher that built my childhood) try to censor an author’s fully justified anger towards racism. I’ve watched the US try time and time again to bury our stories. Scholastic is actively aiding in that effort.
Or maybe they took issue with the fact that she declared all Americans hateful at their core.
@@HeathHuckers "hate is an American tradition" =/= "all Americans are hateful at their core"
My grandfather was in Manzanar, and I remember almost no mention of the camps in school, I completely agree that Tokuda-Hall had every right to be upset. The US education system fails its children by lying about these points in history, and it fails those who were directly impacted by denying the reality of that history. I’m so sorry your family went through those atrocities, hopefully if enough of the decedents of people like our grandparents who survived and moved forward in spite of these atrocities keep speaking up, one day people will realize just how much damage was done in these systems.
75 years ago is not long enough for the victims and their families to forget. Or to stop being affected by it! But I guess it doesn't fit with "rah rah usa is the best"
“Marginalize the voices of parents” is hilarious. Way to co-opt liberal language in a way that doesn’t even make sense
Lmao exactly
I find it so weird that books are being "banned" when it's just people of colour existing within the story, but lilo and stitch is fine? Not to be that guy, but if lilo and stitch came out today, there would be so many people complaining about its "wokeness".
It's so mind boggling how many people find things "woke" because it's not the traditional white, straight and in a perfect world. When nobody really fits that mold, like AT ALL. And I'd you don't want ypur kids around certain things, then how about you step up and homeschool them. Or just keep them in a bubble?
@singingman2025 or Avatar and the Last Airbender.
@@Zombina638In Lilo and Stitch, they literally make American white tourist look like idiots, and there's acknowledgement to the native culture of Hawaii.
@@Alexandraadftxr7052came here to say this
Holy shit Smithsonian world history is “diverse” now? Are we going to just pretend the world didn’t start until the US existed?
Unfortunately, that's how most ⚪ people treat American history.
After all, if they admitted that we real Americans exist and invented American Democracy thousands of years before they came here.... That wouldn't reflect well on them, now would it.
I just asked this question, but is this a common theme in the United States? Smithsonian and DK are extremely popular where I live. However, books like that would be appropriately labelled as Non-Fiction History or something like that. I just find it odd that a general history book would be considered diverse... or really any history book, for that matter?
@TiffWaffles Sadly, this is the same place where people were outraged about evolution being taught in science (and still is), any US history is pushed to be omitted or edited because it doesn't show white people at their best. Like slavery, Trail of Tears, Osage Indian murders, anything that doesn't fit their cookie cutter world.
One common thread in hyper-conservatism is a profound self-centeredness and lack of curiosity about other people and places. Unless the history can be directly tied to American history or traditions, they don’t think it’s worth learning. The public school system overwhelmingly focuses on North American history too, so people mostly learn about other countries through war history (unless they look it up on their own time). So yeah, plenty of people are willing to believe that the rest of world history either didn’t happen or doesn’t matter. 😫 (Cries in History Major)
My heart breaks for all these kids, even the white cishet Christian kids, because they a have a right to learn about people different from themselves. But it especially breaks for the kids who are not cishet, white or Christian. I am none of those and I never saw books with people like me growing up.
honestly, i think its even MORE important for kids who arent any of those identities. youre less likely to feel empathetic towards identities that you dont align with, as sad as it is. i would've been so much less ignorant if i had just learned about this stuff in the most basic sense. i used to think slavery and racism as a whole was just eradicated after the jim crow era ended, aside from people throwing slurs every now and again. i only got lucky to know friends who knew more than me, and opened my eyes to it. some people will still refuse to listen regardless of course, but its still important to have out there.
not sure if identities is the right word... it's hard to lump race/culture/gender/sexuality into one concise word.
I don't know if people realize this, but the more you villaninize and try to keep things away from people, especially kids, they'll just do it more secretive but they will eventually get to it.
My friends in middle school who werent allowed to read harry potter would make sleepover plans with another friend who owned the books, just to have access to harry potter
@@ReadswithRachelWe did the same with friends that weren't allowed to watch TV. We would say we are going to the park, but would bring them to our house to watch cartoons together and play. Kids will always find a way, if they want something bad enough.
It's so sad tho, that we've come to a time that kids are punished for reading of all thing, and are being sneaky with books. With how much older generations are shouting that newer generations only spend time on their phones and on the internet and never read, you'd think they'd be happy younger kids are developing an interest in literature (even tho the content might not agree with their belief).
exactly. kids aren’t stupid, they’re just as cunning as some adults can be. i’ve done this kind of thing , everyone my age i know has done this kind of thing. idk why conservatives think minors can’t think until they hit 18
I would hide books from the library or friends, download videos at the library to USB drives to watch at home when no one was paying attention, eventually I started buying cheap phones and using the McDonald's wifi to download what I wanted and I could watch it in my room, it was a constant fight/strain on our relationship, I never understood why she didn't want me to read or watch what I liked when I was a kid, now I can kinda agree there was some stuff I shouldn't have been looking at when I was 12, but the genuinely inappropriate stuff was demonized along with stuff like magic, any mild violence, romance that wasn't explicit ect.
They do-- that's why it never stops at banning books from library shelves, why they push further and further. They know their control is limited and seek to wholesale eliminate anything they deem a threat to their doctrine. A kid can't seek something out if it's been so thoroughly obliterated that the kid never even hears it exists. That's why pushing back is so critical, because while kids are crafty and resourceful, there's still a limit-- a limit these people are aggressively pushing for.
It sounds like Scholastic is implementing a "Separate but Equal" policy.
"White supremacy shaming" just keeps repeating in my head. Cannot process.
Literally! It’s actually terrifying that some people think it’s ok to not tell their kids white supremacy is bad???
Most of the “adults” complaining about diverse books are just broadcasting that diversity makes them personally uncomfortable and, instead of examining their own thoughts and feelings to identify the source of their discomfort and growing as people, they make it everyone else’s problem.
Facts. It’s karen syndrome on steroids.
The fact that conservative parents are so up in arms about Maggie Tokuda-Hall's book is extra wild to me because the part that mentions racism is literally just the author's note, which 99% of kids will not read. The parents just read it and felt attacked, so they retaliated under the guise of "protecting the children"
It's so disappointing to see Scholastic capitulate to the bigots. It happens everywhere these days. Companies care more about appeasing the bigots than they do supporting diversity and diverse audiences. As someone who loves books, it's scary.
Sadly, these days it is the bigots with all the money which is why they're capitulating. Historically, this has happened before. There is nothing new under the sun. We just now have TH-cam to enlighten us better. So long as there are people in power who would like to pretend that select people do not exist, or shouldn't have rights, this will continue. Did not look any further than the House of Representatives (or the state of US politics in general) to know this will get worse. They are trying to remove the concept that all men are created equal by pretending racism only happened once and a long time ago. They want children to be taught this idea so they chastise anyone that talks about their experiences or their family's experience with it.
I think its what makes Disney's lawsuit against Florida stand out. They aren't going to let the state punish them for disagreeing about LGBT issues.
Like....I have plenty of issues with the Mouse Overlord....but the lawsuit is something I'm really glad Disney moved forward with
As a teacher not in the US, the idea of kids being blocked from books that include diversity is horrifying. Students deserve to have books that reflect them. Also, many of those "diverse" stories would enrich so many lives. Especially in the current climate of kids being turned off of reading
This is such a frustrating experience because ugh, I just want my mixed-race lesbian daughter to have a space at school, and while I'm having to deal with AT THE SIXTH GRADE LEVEL, boys either starting physical fights with her to prove she's "just a girl" or trying to kiss/touch her to show she's "not really gay" and getting a slap on the wrist, her ability to read anyone who is like her is being gutted - for what? So conservative white religious folks can sleep better at night, knowing no one who is not like them will ever be shown to their child as a full human worthy of love and kindness and acceptance.
i’m so sorry your daughter is going through such hardships at school, you’re a wonderful mother for backing her up though and helping her to feel loved at home. it’s insane what these people in power can do, i’m so ready for this wave of old men to get out of office so we can start supporting everyone and not be forced to conform to their standards. but that’s the ideal world, unsure how we’ll get there when so many politicians are awful.
I'm so sorry that you're daughter is having a hard time at school
she's lucky to have a mother like you, only if the other school faculty were as supportive as you
The fact that the school is simply slapping these boys on the wrist for their ongoing campaign of sexual harassment and abuse goes to show that there is a huge problem at this school. This is disgusting and I really hope that your daughter is okay. She should never be afraid to be who she is and school should one hundred percent be a safe space for her.
This is sexual harassment.
The whole idea that society should listen to parents is based on the assumption that parents are speaking on behalf of their kids. If some parents are selfish enough to speak on their own opinions and only pretend it’s for their kids, while actually trying to prevent their kids from learning, we can safely ignore them without any guilt.
Just sent this to a manager chat, as our book store chain does book fairs. I'm using this "too diverse" list as my next order form for every single elementary book fair we do. I'm so pissed off about this sh!t. I was born in the mid 60s, and my parents never, ever, censored anything I read. I was reading far above grade level by age 5. Scholastic is not the ONLY book fair game in town. Reach out, teachers. Normally I don't mention my employer, but will happily tell you the corporate initials are BAM. Look us up. We bring what TEACHERS ask for. What kids want. Because we want all kids to be represented, to be seen, to be heard. To f*cking READ.
I literally watched someone testify against book banning and he said something that has stuck with me.
“Not every book is for every child. Not every book is for every family.”
People think that just because a book is not for them means it is not for everyone.
That is what angers me.
The fact that book fairs are meant to give kids and families an opportunity to get books.
When certain books are made optional just because there is something one group does not like them due to their believes, that is what angers me even more.
I believe that children deserve to be in books and yet I am not being catered for.
I had a childhood that a lot of these banned books show and yet I don’t say to people don’t read them.
I grew up with separated parents and with family including myself that have disabilities.
I grew up with mental health issues due to what I saw and experienced.
I want more people to understand that depression does not just include taking your life.
I want people to understand that anxiety is more than just panic attacks.
I want people to know that autism is not just being like Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory.
I want people to know PTSD does not just occur in soldiers.
I am australian and I can’t imagine what it is would be like to go to a library and not be able to find a book due to the themes in it.
6:57 Also the fact that they didn’t include a dragon prince graphic novel due to LBGTQ characters that are in it (Rayla, the girl in the middle of the cover, was adopted by 2 men, both of them on the cover, when her parents disappeared and Callum and Ezra’s aunt has a female partner and Claudia, the girl on the last dragon prince book, has a parameter who is trans, female to male.) makes me sick.
I love that show so much and I want to read the novels when I get my hands on them!
8:58 So in order to make it look like they aren’t being discriminatory, they added other books to make it look like it is random books that can be optional.
This video is somber and I am so angry by what they did to Maggie Tokuda-Hall but the feedback she got from someone saying "I do not think hate is an American tradition" made me laugh out loud at how naive or wilfully ignorant that person is. How nice would it be to live in the default, blissfully unaware of anything.
White Supremacy is so ingrained in American culture. You criticize racism and you're "not patriotic!"
Hate IS very much an American tradition (and the person saying it is even practicing it herself). What is apparently not an American tradition is Acceptance, but people should learn to be better… and this is why this whole book thing is just rage inducing when hateful parents won’t allow their own children the chance to be better than themselves.
@@kaitunelovemonday but as Op said that person is the default, they don't feel it directed at them so therefore does not exist in their minds, hate can possibly be a thing if they never experience it, and they are never self aware enough to know when they are doing it, because it is always with the best of intentions and positivity.
Our country was built off of hate LMAO. Our government worked off of the hate for minority groups, it was written into the constitution that only white men could serve in office and vote. Our country thrived at the expense of black people who were enslaved by white people. Hate is one of the most "American" things out there.
Have these reviewers never been to a museum? The National WWII Museum in New Orleans literally has an entire special exhibit currently on Japanese American WWII veterans and their experiences while struggling with discrimination and the incarceration of themselves and their families in the internment camps. Their regular exhibits are also quite explicit in detailing the differences in treatment between them when compared to German Americans/Italian Americans. Off the top of my head, another great one for walking through the US's history in exclusion of and discrimination towards marginalized groups is NYC's Museum of Chinese in America. There are institutes literally devoted to researching and showcasing how pervasive racism is in US history.
"I do not think hate is an American tradition." Rolling my eyes.
Our school definitely didn’t get the diverse collection. I work at a title 1 school with a majority black population. Most kids seemed to buy the little journals and pens instead of books this year. Being in education is so fucking frustrating right now 🙃 the easiest way to get my students to read would be to give them horror or graphic novels tbh.
One of my friends works at a school where the majority of students are First Nations/Indigenous with a minor population of French Canadians (everyone speaks French). A few years ago when Scholastic Canada started incorporating more Indigenous voices into their book fairs, they were a huge hit where she teaches because finally there were books featuring First Nations characters.
Obviously book sales were still a thing before this, but most kids love reading books where they can easily identify with the characters. When I went to the Scholastic book fairs, the problem was money since my mum didn't make a lot. I learned that it was better getting a bag of random books than to spend money on one single book and I had enough left over for a bookmark or a cute pencil.
I’m so confused… I thought America abolished racial segregation in the 60s, so why are the books with POC characters separated from the rest?
So fucking ironic people are claiming America doesn’t have a tradition of racism when it seems we still can’t even put POC author’s books on the same shelves as the white authors.
i mean in the south there was still a lot of segregated proms until like 2006 i think sooooo
I do want to give a small shout out to the Catholic school my kid goes to for having the "diverse books" section at their Scholastic book fair. I'm in Canada though so it's a tad different.
My kids go to Catholic school because they have the safest schools in terms of anti-bullying policies. I'm not Catholic but my husband was baptized so she's "eligible" that way lol.
As a deconstructing ex-fundie, pan woman...it brings me a lot of joy to see a traditionally oppressive environment being open to sharing those books with their students.
Yep, as a pan Canadian guy who went to Catholic school until gr 10 in Toronto, I have to say that our Catholic board is surprisingly progressive.
Oh hey! I am also a Canadian and I went to a Catholic school. Do we know if Canadian school libraries have to pick and choose the books they get at our book fairs, too?
@@TiffWafflesI looked it up and the answer was no. This was just an American initiative. They could try here, but I can’t see this flying with our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, particularly the Equality Rights section.
Growing up Catholic, we were told what not to read all the time and my mom was not about that. I’m so sick of these people thinking they have the right to dictate what other people and their kids should be allowed to have access to. It’s not right.
Parents already tried coming for the bookstores in my state. They didn't want kids to be able to access A Court of Mist And Fury citing obscenity laws which are hard to enforce because they're based on general public perception and whether the *obscene thing* is accessible to the public....in a private retailer where it doesn't really apply.
Wait they went for public bookstores??
I've read ACOMAF. I understand not wanting that book in the elementary school library, there are explicit sex scenes, and while I personally would not dream of banning any book in any place-- I understand why some parents would be upset. But in PUBLIC LIBRARIES?!?!
Do these people not realize if their kid is buying a book they do not approve of its their kids fault and not the library's? Plus its not like its the elementary schoolers purchasing the book at the bookstore, as Rachel pointed out in her video. I swear they hide behind "we don't want the KIDS to access" because their real belief is "I don't want ANYONE to access this book because it goes against MY idea of morality"
I'm a sped teacher and I keep a student library that my students are more than welcome to borrow any books from. My most popular are The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a Spiderman: Miles Morales graphic novel.
My kids LOVE Miles Morales!
Hold up I missed that bit about trying to remove the theme of racism from a book set in a Japanese internment camp- that’s INSANE
I feel like they looked me in the eye and gaslit me lmao
Edit: I was the person to tell my North Carolina classes about internment cause the south doesn’t talk about that
the ruby bridges book only being included in the “diverse” opt in made me scream, omfg 😧😧😧
“Parent’s Rights” is just another way of saying “Parental Control.”
Same people who say "you have no rights as long as you live under MY roof".
Its really sad whats happening to our schools. When I studied to be an art teacher i was so happy to see the world changing for the better. A school experience more accepting than my own experiences. I consider myself nonbinary but with the rise in school violence and the "lgbt witch hunt" going on in our schools I just dont feel safe to be my authentic self. As a teacher I dont feel safe. As an ADULT. Imagine how children feel when they are looking to validated, safe, and accepted. My students are 97% diverse. How does the sanitization of diverse themes in art (visual and literary) serve my students?
"Dash" by Kirby Larson is a story about a girl who gets separated from her dog because of the interment camps and her experience within them. Guess where I got it when I was still in elementary school. Scholastic. And I am willing to bet they would either only bring willing offer it only within their "diverse package" or not at all. This book is how I learned about the Japanese interment camps. If they could do better right or so years ago, they can do better now.
My kids school (MO) did not opt in to diversity and the available books were absolutely abysmal. I wish these horrible people would realize that variety is absolutely the spice of life and they are not only hurting people (which I know they don’t care about), but they are also making the world a darker and more boring place.
I don't think a lot of them would agree with it, seems like the goal is to homogenise everyone into cookie cutter people, mostly the same race with the same race and no intermingle, no trans people, no other sexualities, no other religions, no disabilities, no mental health struggles, just everyone being the same and looking mostly the same.
Seeing the Smithsonian History book in the "diverse" group reminded me of that one time, growing up fundie lite, I wanted to watch a documentary on the Free Speech Channel and found it was blocked. Lol 😢
That Smithsonian History book is something that I feel I would have bought if I was a kid if I had the money saved up for it, especially since I was (and am) obsessed with history, but for it to be considered diverse...? Is this a common theme in the United States? I come from a different country where this would have been labelled as General History Non-Fiction or something at my school library's scholastic book fair.
This is so sad. My mom was a elementary school librarian (recently retired) and was constantly harassed by the same kind of people who attend your school board meetings. Her district and administrators basically gave in and now it looks like the publishers are too. I really appreciate your channel and other people speaking out against this.
They’re already tried to ban books in stores in VA. Tried to ban Gender Queer and, funnily enough, A Court of Mist and Fury from being sold at all B&N in the entire state.
Damn, that is extremely messed up. This is just the start of what these christo-fascist pieces of dirt want. 😢
They're book banning in my district in VA :(
Americans: love free market except when they dont
I work at a library and we have a lot of these books. I read Love in the Library and have put it on display several times. It's a wonderful book. I think last month we had a banned books display (for adults and kids), and currently we have a disablility visibility display for kids.
Sometimes we get complaints about our books and displays...but more often than not we get happy children and parents thanking us for putting up books their children can see themselves in. That latter group greatly outnumbers the first, no matter how loud and annoying that first group is.
Damn that "oh you can buy any book you want we're not banning it" argument made me SO mad. Free libraries are, first and foremost, for people who CAN'T BUY books, Karen! Not everyone have resources to buy any literature they want, and children's libraries are far more accessible, even when they're not free, than buying every book yourself. You ARE, in fact, effectively banning it for people who need support the most.
If you're so rich you can actually buy ANY book you want, your kids DON'T EVEN NEED TO BE IN A LIBRARY! THEY CAN READ AT HOME where you know for sure there's no "inappropriate" literature on the shelves.
Gosh I wanted to be there and tell her that.
Same goes for banning books from book fairs, actually
Punishing poor people, and poor kids specifically, isn't new, but it's infuriating every time.
This is killing me. I grew up like you, Rachel, and seeing how little anyone not cis, white, hetero, christian is regarded; how we’re erased at every turn, and crushed for wanting representation… I have very little fight left in me. I just want to see it all burn.
Man I remember scholastic bookfair so fondly in my childhood/elementary memories. I remember the little newpaper they would give out to the students that showed ALL the books and items that were going to be sold at the fair. I would look through it for hours everyday up til the fair day trying to decide what ONE book I was going buy because I also grew up poor and scrounging every coin I could find just to afford that one book when there were so many good options. My last year in middle school was the last time I went to Scholastic Book Fair, and It was the only year I saved up to get 3 books, which for some kids was little but for me was HUGE deal.
I didn't even know there was a diverse option TO OPT OUT of diverse books for scholastic, the fact there is even an OPT OUT option at all is ridiculous to me. You shouldn't get to OPT out of young black, latine, muslim, etc kids and their stories/voices/history from existing in books. Disappointing to see Scholastic fall so low. My cousin's kids (who are Mexican and black) are starting a new school next fall and their new school has scholastic bookfair, I was hoping to take them there because I wanted them to experience the joy their mother and I had. Now I don't know if I want to, looking into up better book fairs for kids in our area.
I didn't realise that there was an opt out option, either. Scholastic book fairs are a huge thing in my country as well and to realise that this publishing company actively refuses to put books out for children solely because they are with diverse characters or written by authors who don't fit in with a specific mould is absolutely vile.
there was a decade ago. My mom taught 5th grade and it was one of the reasons she liked them. They allowed her to bring in ideas to the classroom kids needed to hear.
Maggie's letter/post is so powerful, I'm beyond amazed by her writing and her courage to stand up and speak out especially given the fears she pointed out. I hope to see more from her in the future and I'm seriously considering buying this book for my mom's classroom!
So the "diverse" selection was separate, but equal? **steely stare** yeah not amused by the subtext either.
Even tho I have never agreed with book banning, I’ll admit that I have never been proactive in fighting it. But while watching this video I decided to look into the state of things in my state. I live in Arkansas and found out that a state Senator tried to pass a law that allowed book banning in book stores and public libraries. 😳 thankfully a federal judge denied it a couple months ago
This is so outrageous. I hate that people rather teach hate and ruin the world for everyone else just because they feel uncomfortable? How did some get so entitled? Why did we let them get this entitled in the first place?
When I say this sentence, I do not need to brag. I just genuinely feel lucky that I live in a town that cares about diversity and opposes book bannings.We still have a lot of work to do, but at least our local library has books like “love in a library” that gets checked out. We have librarians actively making sure we do not exclude people. Again, not perfect. But better than what Scholastic is doing by ten miles.
I live in a small town that has many problems, but people are very supportive of the LGBT+ community and people of color which does not happen a lot in small towns so I am grateful for that.
I hate how many parents, teachers, librarians, etc. have to live with this and fight to be included in the conversation.
Wow im shocked about what scholastic is doing i really feel bad for this generation of children
I'm Canadian, so this doesn't entirely effect me or my kid. But I have decided to not support or buy through Scholastic when they decided to ship through a third party rather than Canada Post. This couce was incredibly inconvenient, as it meant my package being left on a porch rather than being put in a community mailbox (which has insurance, so packages that are stolen can be replaced). Hearing this now, I think I'll continue to shop elsewhere in solidarity with Ameeican families. I appreciate this video, and the work that you do! Love from Canada :)
I work in Cobb county schools as does my sister as an Art teacher. It's not just what you read to students in class. You have to have EVERYTHING you bring into the classroom that's not curriculum approved before you can teach it. Guess what subject typically doesn't have a curriculum attached. My sister has to have approval for everything she teaches. She could literally be fired if she shows her kids something she didn't pass by the approval board, even Starry Night or the Mona Lisa. And the approval process takes about a month. We live in a dystopia.
O_o I'm *baffled* by this choice because I remember Scholastic being a huge thing for me in St. Ambrose. It's a Catholic Private school and they had all the books that are considered "diverse" according to today's standards. I remember that World History book that she showed, and it would be normal to see children of color on a lot of those books. So.... Like.... Scholastics... why the fuck are you doing this? So like... holy shit.
Same, the book fair, and reading in general, was a major escape for me, to think scholastic is catering to hateful beliefs is pretty depressing. Those books kept me sane. This censorship is going to really hurt the next generation.
@@wolfegirl1013 No kidding. This really is feeling like a timeline where we'll be living in a world of Fahrenheit 451. It was explained in the book that it started off like this in a way and it just snowballed to worse and worse.
@@Merdragoon I'm terrified for the next election, although I live in a safe community, there are many racist(kkk)/homophobic spots nearby that are becoming pretty vocal. My partner (white passing) and I once had a man we were having a normal discussion with go on a rant about Latino and queer people(he at least seemed open to queer people, mostly talking about how he never saw it growing up, but did listen a bit to our carefully worded explanation. This is what happens when people grow up not exposed to diversity/being told it's wrong). This happened in California. No one acknowledges it. Hate is becoming more acceptabled to the point where it's considered "radical" to want trans people to have access to healthcare and equal rights to queer people without fear of a hate attack. At least when I was growing up in a horrific catholic school, they pretended to not be an abusive place for any queer/nonwhite students. I'm sure they're loving this political climate, leaving the kids they raised to hate themselves scared to exist. A queer friend from there who actually stood up for me recently k*lled herself and I only learned because it made the news. I haven't had contact with friends from there for years, but I hope they're doing better than before.
Hate is learned, it's not our default. The next generation is screwed if this censorship is allowed. Diverse stories matter and save lives. Kids need to know there's nothing wrong with them, and by isolating them from any media that represents them it's setting them up for internalized hate. We need to protect Queer and POC youth.
Sorry for the rant, I'm really tired of seeing hate so normalized
The US has a long tradition of racism.
America is two continents.
We need to remember that "Americans" are the people who have been here for upwards of 30,000 years and it's technically furthering real Americans' genocide when we refer to colonizers as "Americans" (and especially how people default that to ⚪) and demand that the real Americans be an "Other (Native) American".
The more you read "reviews" of the book the more I wish I *was* blissfully unaware of the existence of these people.
Thank you so much for this video. As a social worker who previously lived in both Florida and Indiana: the book banners will never stop in just the classroom. They'll never be satisfied until marginalized voices are completely silenced... and it'll only be a matter of time until THEY will also be silenced, but they don't believe it'll ever happen to them.
Took my neice to her school's Scholastic book fair a couple weeks ago, she also goes to a K-8 school. They got the elementary school fair with a single case of middle school books. They did not get the diversity collection (I was looking for it) and I didn't see any diversity on those 8 shelves.
Our trip involved a lot of questions and some anger shouting.
It breaks my heart and enrages me they are doing this. I remember the first time I was able to buy a book at a fair. I still have it and would happily use it to paper cut all the folks who signed off bigoting the fair.
Oh my god, this is horrific. Thanks for spreading awareness. Definitely going to buy Love in the Library next week for my neighborhood little free library.
I have fond memories of Scholastic growing up, but never because of the books, since they were almost all heavily gendered at the time and my nonbiney ass couldn’t have found anything more boring. And because most of what was there looked so soulless, even to me as an elementary schooler. Because of the lack of diversity, I only ever enjoyed the book fair for cool pens and the games our librarians added for when kids stopped by. Most of the books in the “Diverse” section looked like they had so much heart in them, probably because they were written by authors who understood going to the book fair and not finding any stories with people like them. The fact that scholastic is only platforming the safe books is not only harming their sales, but harming kids who can’t see themselves in books deemed unproblematic by the right. I’m honestly lucky that I could check out books on Kindle unfettered growing up, because otherwise I don’t know if my love of books would’ve survived that long seeing mostly the same old scholastic books that only ever talked about white boys that were masculine and a little mean or white girls who were feminine and a little bratty. Or cats. But to be fair, the cats were the only books I might’ve considered picking up back then.
Oh god I remember the gendered sections. The best memories I have are sorting through the horror and animal books, and ignoring the rest
My local library system is “re-evaluating” our digital resources and essentially making it so ebooks aren’t available because queer books were available. And the library system has stopped their subscription to ALA because of “Marxist ideology”. So that resource is gone. Of course, it’s in Florida.
WAIT MINE SAID THE “THEYRE MARXISTS!” LINE TOO! Omg
Just ordered Love in the Library!! So excited to read it!!
Hope you enjoy it!
These Christofacists are out of control.
The book fair was a damn treat when I was a kid. Even if I didn't get to buy anything, it was still fun. This is a fkn tragedy. I hate that we're at this spot in our history. Those crying out because they don't want to be censored are the ones censoring everyone they don't like.
I really appreciate you bringing this topic to my attention, Rachel, thank you. I don't have any kids myself, so I really haven't been directly involved with schools for a long time. I very much care about kids and their opportunities though, and Scholastic giving in to the demands of bigotry at the costs of opportunities for children is just vile. Kids deserve the chance to build empathy and expand their world by seeing and reading about characters who are different than themselves, and they deserve the validation that comes with seeing themselves reflected back in the stories they read. Both are so, so important for building healthy, diverse communities! I guess that's why the diverse stories are a target of the bigotry at all...
A book about a Black child is not diverse. It's just not. An individual cannot be diverse. I hate it when companies say things like "we want to hire this person because they're diverse" or something along those lines.
Populations are diverse. Individuals are not. And labeling people or books as "diverse" is othering for no reason.
And in this case, if Scholastic wanted an opt-in "diverse" option, the "non-diverse" option would have to be tailored to the school. Because a bunch of books about White people is diverse for schools that are not predominantly white.
This whole thing is stupid. "I don't want my kids buying that book at the book fair." Then don't give them the money to do so? It's not like elementary kids have money.
This whole thing makes me so mad.
Years ago, when Scholastic pretty much stopped printing the old American Girl books, and eliminated over 90% of Royal Diaries and Dear America books, I was devastated. It was these books that got me into history, and it was these books I was able to find the most diversity as a female POC child in the 90s and 2000s. This dumbing down on diversity has been going on with Scholastic far longer than you think.
this is so depressing and i don't even have kids in school yet..... i love the comment about reaching out to local bookstores for book fairs. In my area we had a new local book store open up and they're so lovely it would make me happy to see them doing school fairs
I actually got that same ruby bridges book at the scholastic book fair when I was in elementary school. It was one of my favorites. It’s really sad to know that kids are being deprived of learning about such important things based on parents who are offended by the real world.
This is actually heartbreaking as someone who grew up not having much representation at book fairs and libraries aside from slave and black trauma books.
I didn't realize how much not having PoC characters or voices effected me until I started writing in HS and noticed that I visualizing most of the main cast as white, not me or my friends or parents. Took a lot of readjusting to unlearn that. Its horrid that young PoC and LGBTQIA+ readers have to deal with this erasure that will be so detrimental to them in the near future.
Book banners need to take the fckn hypocritical christian stick out of their ass and let the children read what they want. Especially in an age where the INTERNET EXISTS. They need to give up the illusion that they can "protect" their kids from the stories of marginalized people that expose the racism and discrimination that is permanently marked in America's history in particular.
The authors who are included in the "opt out diversity" box should have the right to sue. Scholastic is not only hurting their sales but purposely interfering with their books reaching their audience. This is such bullshit and I'm glad teachers (who knows their students BETTER than these corporate heads) are speaking up about it.
Side note: I had a teacher in sixth grade who rebelled against the secular library in school by having her own personal book collection in class. And I'm grateful that she did, because the library selection was so boring and narrow with no diversity whatsoever.
What that teacher said about differences is such a word. People love to act like differences are the root of all evil so people should conform when it's not the case. If you're mad someone is different in a way that has nothing to do with you then it's a you problem, you're the one sowing strife, not the person whose different and standing in proud in the fact they are different. It's the same thing when people try to tell minorities that shouldn't be hurt by something. The thing causing anger isn't the person being mad that feel wronged, it's the person whose trying to mitigate how they feel because they personally don't see an issue. Like imagine you get cut and someone tells you to just let it go because it doesn't matter.
Like, it’s not our job as a society to enable these people. It’s our job to make sure kids can access education and resources regardless what their parents want. Parents voices just do not matter if they aren’t doing their job and speaking for their kids and I’m tired of everyone pretending we should care about what some racist parent doesn’t want their kid to read. That kid is not the parent’s personal toy, it’s a real live human person who is supposed to become a functioning member of society one day.
Personally, I refuse to enable them. You wanna act like that? Go home school junior. And when junior has a panic attack because the world isn't the cotton candy coated place you told him it was, you pay for the medical bill. Not me. Not teachers. Not anyone else. I'm not being responsible for your weird kids.
I hate hate hate how much religion is getting involved into politics AND education. Especially in USA. Our ancestors didn't survive the dark ages and then in later centries fought for their rights and removal of church from their everyday lives and political sphere. And yet here we are, again, our choices being controlled by people that are "preaching" the word of god.
I'm all for religious freedom, as long as that doesn't ecroach on other peoples freedom to their religious belief (as long as that belief isn't hurting other people, religious sects for example that brain wash their kids and marry them off as kids) or ecroach on other peoples freedom to opt out of religion all together.
If you want more diverse books you are called insensitive by religious nuts because you are insensitive to their belief, while they never think that they forcing the removal of diverse books is also insensitive to freedom of people to let their kids read diverse books, if they so please.
As a white male raised in a predominately Christian area this video just ruined my day, in the best way possible. Subscribed.
Wow! Thank you! Glad you’re here.
These Confederate REPUBLICANS are not true Christians but poiitical vampires. The repulsive Republican Party have embrace slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow apartheid laws, and the evils of white nationalism. They are a malignant cancer that must be exoposed and redicule in every State. They hate the word Woke, which Fat head governor Desantis lawyer explain as people who believe in equal rights and equal justice and fairness. Florida is a Confederate Republican run State. 😎😌
When I was a child, and still now, Ruby Bridges was my HERO. Ever since I learned about her at age 7 I have thought she’s the most amazing person I’d ever heard of. I read every picture book about her then every chapter book and watched the movie based on her story. If I wasn’t allowed to read about her with books from the school library I would have been devastated. Couldn’t believe hers was one of the stories in the “opt in”
Man... "America has a tradition of racism" doesn't mean that each and every American is prejudiced in the same exact way, as it's saying that America has a tradition of being xenophobic and weaponizing xenophobia. The way I interpreted it is not personal... and if it IS personal, it's offering people a challenge to defy the inherited sickness. I don't think I learned about internment camps until high school history class; it wouldn't have been a bad thing if I learned about it sooner, and was aware of it. The teen show on Netflix "Never Have I Ever" has a character who talks about his family's history with the internment camps. It's not a bad thing to talk about it! ugh
If we do not discuss them, we run the risk of re-offending in those heinous ways. Humans do not live in a vacuum. Sadly, we are often tempted to hurt others. It's human nature. We're going to do it, especially when we see others starting the horrible, abusive cycles. But if we educate ourselves and arm ourselves with power, then we're stronger for next time. I cannot say we'll be perfect...
But if not taught to resist hate, we'll very quickly learn to hate.
This 'Julie' person, what right does she have to dictate what a library or book receptacle can put on it's shelves? Or what books a child should or shouldn't read? Parents and adults should stop dictating to their children what they can and can't read, it's time that kids were permitted to make their own decisions and judgements, instead of parents pushing their agendas on children and libraries, like this Julie person!
... I wish I had been able to have access to inclusive books and media when I was a child. It would've helped me so much trough my journey. I struggled with mental health for more than 20 years, looking different than most, loving different than most, it was a rough time growing up!
So, so many children could be saved so much trouble and distress if only they could see others are out there, FEELING JUST LIKE THEY FEEL, so they know they're not alone.
Edit: sorry english is not my first language I hope I can express myself here.
I'm somewhat in favor of schools being able to pick their Scholastic collections for book fairs, but it should be more broad than having to opt-in for more than "only English language books about white people and animals" obviously. Like, let schools select the "graphic novels" package if they know they have a lot of graphic novel readers (obviously still includes other books, but an extra batch of graphic novels because they'll sell), or the "interactive books" package with journals and stuff, or getting a majority of books not in English for schools with a lot of ESL kids. Making it easier for schools to cater to what their kids WANT to read in order to encourage those kids TO read. It doesn't have to be a "diversity? yes/no" option, that should come baked in, but some customization options would give the book fair a nice boost i bet.
Thank you for covering this. It’s hard to keep up with exactly what’s going on and having it summarized in this way is incredibly helpful. Keep on fighting the good fight ❤
Such an important discussion to be having! Thank you Rachel. I know this topic can be frustrating, because these people know freedom is given through knowledge and the process of learning. If the library and interesting books where I saw myself there in the words on the page weren’t available to me when I was a kid, I don’t know if I would be here today! Thank you again, your evidence is extremely compelling and the librarian sharing their book fair experience was really eye opening. I can only tell you that there are thousands of us who stand with you and know children should have the world in its full beauty available at their library, whatever some parents think, their kids should have the right to explore all cultures and human experiences.
If they do get children's book out of stores, I'm going to get piss! Why can't you leave diverse children's book alone?! Come on!
Keep speaking up and demanding answers and accountability, you are doing important work Rachel thank you. ❤
(loooooved cemetery boys that I read thanks to you 💙)
Thank you for talking about this! This fence sitting from Scholastic is vile and I shall be getting a copy of Love in the Library for my own classroom
Scholastic: We need to remove racism.
Authors: We agree, racism has been a scourge on our country which has caused incalculable harm.
Scholastic: Oh sorry I meant we need to remove the word Racism from your books. We aren't concerned about actual racism.
The sad thing about this is that most of those books would have been perfectly fine to be sold with everything else when I was a kid. In fact it was celebrated to have diverse books it pains me to know the mere presence of characters that aren’t white, straight, or even Christian, can make them an Optional book.
that's insane that the librarian has to "opt-in" to get the diversitybooks sent to her school for the book fair.
I was always so excited for the scholastic book fair as a kid, especially when it came to graphic novels and fantasy series, it’s one of the reasons I’m currently doing a minor in comic studies. It just really sucks to see how a poor selection of books could easily drive a lot of kids away from reading as a whole.
This is just...deeply upsetting. ☹️
The "diverse" books from Scholastic Book Fair...are some in there just because theres ONE character of color?! Or its written by a person of color??!!
Like there were SO MANY that i didnt even get....ONE WAS ABOUT A CAT!!
i don't mean this in a "getting on my high horse" way but the fact that the big book fairs for children are organized and controlled by a big corporation sounds like a parody of america. i hope there can be other, public, book fairs around. kids deserve better.
So grateful that California teachers have such a strong union protecting us because my classroom library will always have diverse books. I just hope these new bills will strengthen teacher’s unions in states that don’t have regional chapters that protect these teachers. ❤
If someone tells you they just want to protect their own children and their own parenting rights, so they want the books gine only from the school library, DO NOT believe them. Even if they mean it, their peers don't, their organizers / patrons don't. They'll move the goalposts, "reasonably" ask for books to be separated, sealed, not sold near the school, the stores marked. They'll make those stores ban children or restrict those sections, ban advertising of the books, put pressure on the stores to stop selling them until publishers won't pick up the diverse stories or until the public agrees to a proper book burning because they believe the content is harmful.
With love, from a place where teens can't browse classic literature and cookbooks in the biggest bookstores, only the children's section.
This is so frustrating to hear about - thanks for covering this
This made me sad. Scholastic was a huge part of my childhood. What they did with the school fairs and that author was disgusting. Her author's note on racism was spot on. Racism is so ingrained in American culture that if you speak up against it, you're unpatriotic! My local school board is majority republican and there's an election Tues. I'm voting blue.
As some whose grandparents also met in an internment camp. I like the authors note lol.
I think the point of the elementary school kids buying books for themselves is because often when the book fair is happening you’ll have classroom time to shop. My parents would send us to school that day with book fair money, they didn’t see what we were buying until we got home. I imagine that the problem would be parents who sent their kids to school with book fair money being upset if they’re child came home with a book they found objectionable. The same way they’re upset those books are in the library, they think the school shouldn’t be offering those books to their kids and since the book fair is inside the school the same thing applies. I don’t agree but I think this is where scholastic is trying to protect itself because they know that some kids shop the book fair during the school day without parental supervision.
1:58 "We're not trying to ban books, we're just trying to prevent people from accessing them! Totally different things!"
Seeing this is feeding my doomerism, I know there are many good people out there but like sometimes I just hate humans, why should a teacher be fired for reading a book with different gender expressions in it, it's good for children, they will be healthier adults, we're in hell.
Edi: Okay, I hadn't gotten to the Maggie part and now I'm crying, she shouldn't have to deal with the choice between experiences she and her family had gone through and her career.
It’s so upsetting that some people refuse to parent their children and take responsibility for how they want to raise them. Acting like getting “inappropriate books” out of the reach of children is their real purpose? That’s like saying you don’t want your kid eating sugar so you advocate for grocery stores and gas stations to take candy off the shelves. They’re hateful and using kids and fake morals as a shield
Does anyone know of a way to purchase the “banned” books for underprivileged kids, especially children of color? I just hate that they didn’t get the opportunity to buy these books. This whole thing makes me sick.
I cannot get over the reviews of Love in the Library complaining about the author's note, what kid reads an author's note???
Maggie didn’t come to play! 🙌🏾 I haven’t read the book but she’s clearly a fantastic, passionate, and eloquent writer. Everything she said, I was like preach!!! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 That author’s note didn’t do anything but tell the truth. It’s infuriating they tried to censor her and heartbreaking that POC are forced to make these kinds of decisions between getting recognition and watering down their work so white people don’t get upset. Her grandparents real life story is upsetting to them? How do they think it felt to her grandparents? They deserve for their story to be told.
People get more offended by the word racism than actual racism. And that part about wanting to feature POC stories while watering them down and making them palatable to white readers is spot on. I admire her for putting her foot down and speaking the truth. We can love our country and also be critical of its horrific past. As a Black woman, I know that all too well. Somebody please show me the proof that racism isn’t a tradition in the U.S. I’ll wait.
Also, “White supremacy shaming”?!?! Get the entire F@&k out of here. 🤬
Scholastic banned their authors like KA Applegate from including queer characters in their books in the 2000s, so I am not surprised
14:45
in elementary school, i definitely had a not-insignificant amount of money my parents didn't know about. a lot of kids are little business mogels! i used to sit outside at recess and sell little flower crowns / bracelets that i hand wove from the flowers in the field for like 50 cents each! i was also artistic even back then and used to sell pencil sketches for a few bucks to my classmates! doing that for a while, i definitely bought a few books and posters that weren't paid for by my parents :p also, sometimes kids with rich parents would just give you money for fun, especially when the large majority of my school was low income LOL. they'd hear "oh, we don't have much money" and feel the need to share! kids will find a way to make money with or without parental supervision
Great job with this video!