Scholastic Book Fairs to Discontinue Separate Catalog for Diversity Titles Following Criticism

Scholastic's decision to abandon its divisive "Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice" program comes after backlash from authors, educators, and critics arguing the move enabled censorship and would segregate titles dealing with themes of diversity, race, and LGBTQIA+. The discontinued collection will see its end in January, with a plan in place to handle the upcoming book fairs.

Scholastic Book Fairs plans to discontinue its separate catalog for diversity titles, named 'Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice', in response to criticism from authors, educators, and critics who argued the move encouraged censorship and segregated titles.
Despite original intentions to protect educators from adverse local legislation, Scholastic acknowledged it was a mistake to segregate diverse books, resulting in confusion and feelings of exclusion among various stakeholders.
The separate catalog, which included 64 titles covering themes of diversity, race, and LGBTQIA+, allowed book fair organizers to elect to include or exclude the entire catalog or specific books from the list.
Several high-profile authors voiced their opposition to the separate catalog, including Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, whose title 'Change Sings' was part of the collection. She criticized the program as treating diverse titles as ‘separate but equal’.
This issue is not Scholastic's first encounter with content controversy. Earlier in the year, there was backlash when it asked author Maggie Tokuda-Hall to remove references to racism from her book about a love story set in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.

The Philadelphia Inquirer