Earlier this week, news broke that Scholastic executives confined all the books they publish about race, racism, and those with LGBTQ+ characters and themes into one collection to make it easy for schools to opt out of the WHOLE collection. In fact, when schools sign up, they are asked multiple times if they want to opt out of this collection of inclusive books.

This decision leaves huge numbers of children without representation of themselves and their families. That means kids of color across the country could get excited to go to the fair just to see . . . no characters or historical figures who look like them. By lumping all these books together and making them easy to opt out of, Scholastic executives are caving to the demands of a few extreme book banners. The VAST majority of parents — including me! — want their kids to learn about ALL types of people, history, and communities.

Tell Scholastic CEO Peter Warwick that that is the WRONG choice. Scholastic Book Fairs have been an educational and fun experience for generations, and they still have a chance to be on the right side – the side of parents, students, educators, and a more inclusive future.