There is now enacted or pending legislation in more than 30 U.S. states prohibiting certain kinds of books from being in schools – mostly LGBTQIA+ titles and books that engage with the presence of racism in our country. Because Scholastic Book Fairs are invited into schools, where books can be purchased by kids on their own, these laws create an almost impossible dilemma: back away from these titles or risk making teachers, librarians, and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued, or prosecuted.
To continue offering these books, as well as even more high interest titles, we created an additional collection called Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice for our U.S. elementary school fairs. We cannot make a decision for our school partners around what risks they are willing to take, based on the state and local laws that apply to their district, so these topics and this collection have been part of many planning calls that happen in advance of shipping a fair.
Jeez Louise. When I was a kid, and a teacher, I loved the book fairs. Spent waaaay too much on classroom libraries but the kids asked and I provided. I got so much joy from it. Everyone needs to see themselves represented. I believe people will read and continue to as long as they find someone or something they can identify with in the reading. Take that away and we have nothing. People will then not read and will therefore be ignorant over time of resources and knowledge they should have. I loved reading and I made sure my students always knew that. I made sure my ESOL kids had something fun and on their level. The Scholastic Book Fairs helped with that every year. I am both poorer and richer for this.