Elementary schools can choose to display all or some of the 64-book collection — or opt out entirely.
A student picks out a book at a book fair at Dixie Elementary School in Tyler, Tex. It’s a time beloved by students across the country — when the Scholastic Book Fair’s colorful displays and shelves on wheels are set up and students can browse and buy what they like.Scholastic is separating dozens of books focused on race and LGBTQ+ themes into a collection that elementary schools can decide whether to offer or exclude from their book fairs, the publisher announced in a statement Friday.
“We call on Scholastic to explore other solutions so they can reject any role in accommodating these nefarious laws and local pressures, or being an accessory to government censorship,” the group said.Scholastic said in its own statement that the alternative would have been to not offer the titles altogether — an option it said “is not something we’d consider.”The change does not affect Scholastic’s middle school book fairs, according to the company.
In its statement Tuesday, PEN America blamed lawmakers and activists for putting Scholastic “in an impossible bind” but urged the company to fight censorship attempts.
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