Children’s book club says lesbian moms are “inappropriate”
10/25/09-by Paula Brooks
The School Library Journal is reporting that global children’s publishing, education and media giant, Scholastic, decided not to include a book from its Scholastic Book Fair, because the company says one of the main characters has same-sex parents.
The book, Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle, is about the friendship among four elementary school girls, and one of those girls, Milla, has lesbian moms.
Scholastic has said it will refuse to carry the book unless the author makes some changes, such as removing a few words — “geez,” “crap,” “sucks,” and “God” (as in, “oh my God”) — and by writing out the lesbian moms. She has said she would be willing to remove the supposed offensive words, but refused to remove the lesbian moms.
Myracle, no stranger to controversy, and has appeared on the American Library Association’s top 10 list of most often challenged authors, however the children’s book author says she is surprised that Scholastic would shy away from a reality that exists in numerous households across the country.
Says Myracle, “A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’”
The author says, “Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents, just like Milla. It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away,” says Myracle. “In my opinion, it’s not an ‘issue’ at all. The issue, as I see it, is that kids benefit hugely from seeing themselves reflected positively in the books they read. It’s an extremely empowering and validating experience.”
Scholastic says Love Ya Bunches will still be available in their Book Club catalog, and a spokesperson said, “the company will continue monitoring the book’s popularity as well as the input from book fair field representatives to decide whether it should be included in future book fairs.”
The Scholastic Mission Credo notes the company produces educational materials to assist and inspire students:
- To cultivate their minds to utmost capacity
- To become familiar with our cultural heritage
- To strive for excellence in creative expression in all fields of learning, literature, and art
- To seek effective ways to live a satisfying life
- To enlarge students’ concern for and understanding of today’s world
- To help build a society free of prejudice and hate, and dedicated to the highest quality of life in community and nation.
Lesbian Mom Blogger Dana Rudolph thinks Scholastic should be held to that credo and said, “That sounds like a call to action for me.” Rudolph has asked her readers to contact Scholastic Investor Relations and to “get yourselves to your local book fairs and ask the field reps for Myracle’s book, as well as others that depict LGBT families.”
The website Change.org has also posted an action alert about this, complete with an automated message to Scholastic.
Lesbian Mom Kathy Young of Arizona said, “Diversity in families is a fact of life. Whether that diversity includes kids being raised by grandparents, single Dads, or LGBT parents, it is important that those families are represented in the stories the kids read. Not only is it important for my child to see but for her friends to see that these families exist in our culture.”
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While it is wrong that they are doing this – I can see why, namely all of the ignorant religious nutjobs that want to protect their children from reality. Namely, the reality that two people of the same sex CAN love each other and they can set up a functional family and the sky won’t fall.
>Scholastic has said it will refuse to carry the book unless the author makes some changes, such as removing a few words — “geez,” “crap,” “sucks,” and “God” (as in, “oh my God”) I’m glad they’re cracking down. I can’t tell you how offended I am when I hear children saying "geez." No excuse for such inappropriate language.
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I am offended that you would even repeat that word in public, have you no shame?
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I sent scholastic an email asking about this, so we’ll see what comes of that. Hard to believe a place that has faced so many controversies is starting to act like this.
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I did too: "You bitches are douchebags with a fucked up attitude. I read all your niggers books as a kid and my grammer and spelleng is fucking perfect. What is wrong with you ninnyhammers?"
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I could have sworn I saw this book in a Scholastic Book Clubs flyer within the last couple months. I remember thinking that Lauren Myracle was aiming younger. It isn’t in the online September or October Arrow flyers, though, and it’s an older (reading level) book than Lucky’s grade levels. I think ours was a little different, anyway.
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Just got an email from them. "Dear Matthew, Scholastic has been helping kids learn to love to read for almost 90 years. Scholastic does not censor books. The selection of books we carry in our book clubs and book fairs is the result of a careful review of thousands of titles each year, and we are committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents. Scholastic is already supporting Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle. This book is featured prominently on both the student and teacher covers of our December 2009 Arrow Scholastic Book Clubs catalogs, which are already printed and are in schools right now. On October 16 we also recorded a Book Talk Editors’ Choice Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zemWdKyt324), which features Luv Ya Bunches. Scholastic editors recognize Milla’s two moms as a positive and realistic aspect of the story. We offer other books with same sex couples and gay and lesbian characters in Book Clubs and Book Fairs including The Name of This Book is Secret and The Misfits, as well as the upcoming After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson, and others. Scholastic provides books that will appeal to the wide range of interests and reading abilities of children in the many diverse cultures and communities we serve. Luv Ya Bunches helps us fulfill our mission to do that. In an interview with School Library Journal, Scholastic stated that we are currently carrying Luv Ya Bunches by Lauren Myracle in our school book clubs. We also said we were still reviewing the book for possible inclusion in our book fairs. Having completed our review of Luv Ya Bunches, Scholastic Book Fairs will carry the title in our spring fairs for middle schools. Thank you for taking the time to express your opinion. Scholastic is very proud of its long history of helping children learn to love to read. We look forward to continuing to bring the best in children’s literature to communities across the country and around the world as Scholastic has done for nearly 90 years. Sincerely, Teryl McLane Senior Manager of Communications Scholastic Book Fairs"
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