Children’s book giant Scholastic has already caved to the book-banners by segregating diverse titles into an “additional collection” that schools planning book fairs can opt out of. But showing weakness never makes a bully go away, and it didn’t this time, either.
Scholastic and its books came under a vicious, bigoted attack in a 16-page document attributed to Moms for Liberty and promoting frequent Moms for Liberty partner BRAVE Books, which is trying to set itself up as the right-wing alternative to Scholastic. This stuff is ugly.
Aside from a scattering of descriptions of violence in books like the massively popular middle-grade fantasy series “Wings of Fire,” the document’s attacks are laser-focused on books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes. Some of them are middle-grade or young adult books focusing on preteens and teens exploring their gender identity or their sexuality, but others are picture books for young children like “Julián Is a Mermaid,” the nearly wordless story of a little boy who wants to be a mermaid. When his grandmother finds him dressing up as a mermaid, she takes him to the Mermaid Parade. That’s it. That’s all. Other books, like “Forever Home,” are cited for the dastardly crime of showing families with two dads or two moms.
All of this comes after big, screenshotted definitions of “pornography” and “obscenity.” The definition for pornography reads: “printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity, intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings.” And the one for obscenity reads: “the state or quality of being obscene; obscene behavior, language, or images” and “an extremely offensive word or expression.” The reader is intended to view a children’s book about a kid with two dads or a little boy who wants to be a mermaid as either pornographic or obscene. Which is it? Are they suggesting that these books are “intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings”? Because: gross. Or are they suggesting that the mere existence of these depictions are “extremely offensive”?
Moms for Liberty, BRAVE Books, and the rest of the book-banners are redefining “pornography” to mean “anything with LGBTQ+ content in it,” no matter how much literary, aesthetic, or emotional focus it has. It’s not just an attack on LGBTQ+ people or Scholastic: It’s an attack on the idea that words have meanings.
Here’s a review a young reader left on Common Sense Media of a book for fifth to eighth graders:
… I loved how the book was able to show how a young teenager (the characters are in middle school) is able to figure out their sexuality. This book actually helped me a bit when I was questioning my sexuality.
That is cited as a really bad thing—a kid who is questioning their sexuality and sees their experience reflected in a book.
The document also angrily describes a “Read With Pride” resource guide from Scholastic, which lists many of the publisher’s LGBTQ+-themed books. Mysteriously, this part of the resource guide doesn’t make it into the hate-filled attack on the idea of providing kids with diverse books:
- 73% of LGBTQIA+ youth reported experiencing discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime, and more than half reported experiencing discrimination in the past year thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022
Half of LGBTQIA+ youth of color reported experiencing discrimination based on their race/ethnicity in the past year, including 67% of Black LGBTQIA+ youth and 60% of Asian/Pacific Islander LGBTQIA+ youth thetrevorproject.org/survey-2021
LGBTQIA+ youth who reported having at least one accepting adult in their life were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/accepting-adults-reduce-suicide-attemptsamong-lgbtq-youth
LGBTQIA+ youth who reported having at least one LGBTQIA+-affirming space had 35% reduced odds of reporting a suicide attempt in the past year thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/lgbtq-gender-affirming-spaces
When you’re promoting bigotry and discrimination, why not show the damage it does? That should feel like a victory lap, right?
The goal here is not just to attack Scholastic but to promote the far-right BRAVE Books. “Are you going to keep giving your hard-earned money to Scholastic? Or are you going to stop letting companies get away with this crime against children?” A crime, no less. The answer, of course, is BRAVE Books. It’s booking for Spring 2024! Act now! BRAVE makes, in its words, “Faith-based children’s books that bring families together,” which raises the prospect of the Supreme Court deciding, a year or two from now, that faith-based book fairs are not just allowed but required in public schools. The company’s authors include washed-up actors like Kirk Cameron and Kevin Sorbo, and it offers “A monthly subscription that helps you teach your kids or grandkids timeless lessons through engaging and easy-to-read stories on difficult subjects like sanctity of life and the importance of following rules.” Rules, presumably, like “Don’t you dare be gay.”
Does Scholastic think that backing down on offering high-quality, diverse books to every school will make this kind of attack—and attempted competition—go away? Pro tip: It will only embolden them.
