If you attended one of America’s public schools, then perhaps in elementary school you took part in one of Scholastic’s book fairs — the reading company’s traveling stab at getting kids to put down the PSP and pick up book of glued pages. But if you’re a kid today, one book you won’t find is Luv Ya Bunches. It’s too gay.
Also, it has the terms “crap,” “sucks,” and “Oh my God” in it.
Is there any better a story for kids than one about four young girls with nothing in common, but who form a bond because they’re all named after flowers? Lauren Myracle’s Luv Ya Bunches, released Oct. 1, is that type of feel-good tome. But because it’s written for kids who are living in 2009, and not, say, 1959, one of the characters — egads! — has gay parents!
That’s too much for Scholastic, which told publisher Abrams/Amulet it would need to submit a copy of the book with the bad words removed, and give the character Milla a set of hetero parents.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
For her part, Myracle says she was willing to clean up the language to meet Scholastic’s standards. But no way in hell she is erasing the gay parents. “A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’ … I find that appalling. I understand why they would want to avoid complaint letters—no one likes getting hated on—but shouldn’t they be willing to evaluate the quality of the complaint? What, exactly, are children being protected against here?”
Not so surprising: Myracle is a Top 10 plaeholder on the American Library Association’s list of most-challenged authors.
But her complaints are falling on deaf ears; Scholastic isn’t budging. “Authors are often given the opportunity to make changes in the books to meet the norms of the various communities that host the fairs,” says spokeswoman Kyle Good, who says the book will be available in the company’s book catalog. Just not at the fairs.
Sad, sad Scholastic. Shouldn’t we be encouraging kids to read at any cost? Particularly a “cost” that has kids reading about “alternative families,” which come middle and high school could help breed a sense of tolerance and acceptance?
Well hell, if kids can read about ex-gays …
Fail.
Quinn
This doesn’t surprise me. I’m familiar with several instances of Scholastic “hetero-washing” their characters, and I’ve been very disappointed each time.
Dana
Change.org has created an online petition to send to Scholastic in support of Myracle’s book. Over 2200 people have signed it so far.
Landon Bryce
Call 1-800-SCHOLASTIC (800-724-6527) to complain.
ksu499
I agree with changing the language — ‘sucks’ definitively has to go — but I hope the author stands fast on the gay parents angle.
DeAnimator
That’s sad. I used to love Scholastic Fairs as a kid. This is bullshit.
Kyle Good
Scholastic is giving tremendous support to Luv Ya Bunches. In fact, our editors believe in this book so much that it is featured prominently on both the student and teacher covers of our December 2009 Arrow catalogs which are already printed and are in schools right now. On October 16 we also recorded a Book Talk Editors’ Choice Video which features Luv Ya Bunches.
The prominent promotion of Luv Ya Bunches in Scholastic’s Arrow December catalog, which has been distributed to 3.7 million students, affirms that the company is in complete support of this book.
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, the upcoming After Tupac and D Foster, The Misfits, and others. Scholastic seeks to provide books that will appeal to a wide range of interests and reading abilities of children living in the many diverse cultures and communities we serve. Luv Ya Bunches helps us fulfill our mission to do that.
Scholastic is proud of its support for Luv Ya Bunches through its classroom Book Clubs. As we’ve said previously, Scholastic Book Fairs is working on firming up their Spring list and is considering Luv Ya Bunches.
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.
For more information, please visit: http://onourmindsatscholastic.blogspot.com/2009/10/update-on-lauren-myracles-luv-ya.html
DeAnimator
*cough* Bullshit. *cough*
sal(the original)
well im gonna spread the word
warren
Excuse me, but the further mangling of the english language into glib pop utterances is more distressing.
Landon Bryce
Dear Kyle,
Will Scholastic commit to having books with LGBT characters in all of its book fairs from now on?
Landon Bryce
And, Kyle, do you think Scholastic can be excused for ever asking that a gay character be removed from a book because of the bigotry of some of your customers?
Emily Wilkes
It is better to expose children to diversity through literature than to have them lead a life of ignorance.
Landon Bryce
By the way, for anyone under the impression that Scholastic is takes this issue seriously at all, note that Kyle did not even bother to remove “Thank you for taking the time to express your opinion” from her comment on this page. This is an email for complainers, pasted onto this page.
Her office phone number is (212) 343-4563 if you would like to express to her your disappointment that Scholastic is asking writers to remove gay characters from their books for any reason.
Kevin
I’m sorry but I’m cracking up at the cover.
A black girl, an asian girl, a white girl, and an arabic girl.
Come on.
Daniel
Scholastic can be sued in states with civil rights laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.