See, You Can't Please Everyone

And it's all right now
I learned my lesson well
See, you can't please everyone
So you got to please yourself
Lot-da-da (lot-da-da-da)
Lot-in-da-da-da
And it's all right now, yeah
I learned my lesson well
You see, you can't please everyone

Garden Party By Ricky Nelson

 

Ricky Nelson wrote that song when in October 1971, Nelson played at a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City with greats like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Bobby Rydell. When Ricky Nelson played his new songs he got booed, from that the song was written, "Garden Party," was written which told the story of his experience at Madison Square Garden.

Well the Scholastic Book Fair wanted to please everyone and they found out that caused a lot of “Boos” you see when they held their book fairs across the country they faced a different laws in different states about books on LGBTQ+ and Black history topics… so they took the easy was out, segregation. 

Dividing the books into groups of banned books.

Scholastic backtracks, saying it will stop separating diverse books for fairs in 2024

NPR

By Rachel Treisman

October 25, 2023

Scholastic is reversing course, saying it will no longer separate diverse stories for school book fairs after weeks of mounting backlash from educators and authors.

The educational company, which both publishes and distributes books, waded into hot water last month after it confirmed that it was changing its policy for its middle school book fair offerings.

It said it was putting most of the titles dealing with race, gender and sexuality into their own collection, and allowing schools to decide whether to order it, as they would with any display.

Scholastic said the change was aimed at helping districts navigate the book bans that have proliferated across the country. They said such laws — either pending or enacted in more than 30 states — create "an almost impossible dilemma: back away from these titles or risk making teachers, librarians, and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued, or prosecuted."

But as Ricky Nelson learned, you can’t please everyone.

But their solution was quickly slammed by many educators and authors, who accused the company of caving to censorship. Many said on social media and online petitions that they wished it would take a stronger stand against such legislation and offer the books anyway.

But then they dug their hole deeper…

The backlash further picked up steam after Scholastic issued a statement on October 13 explaining their decision. Racial justice and free speech advocacy groups slammed Scholastic for making diversity optional, accusing it of caving to the small but vocal minority of Americans who support book bans and depriving students of important stories and perspectives.

There is no one solution fits all.

The Washington Post said…

But the decision met with sharp criticism from educators, authors and advocacy groups concerned about censorship in schools. Among the 64 titles in the optional collection were ones related to prominent Americans and U.S. history, including “Justice Ketanji,” a biography of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson; “Because of You, John Lewis,” a story book about an activist’s friendship with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.); “I Am Ruby Bridges” by the activist herself; and “Change Sings,” a picture book by poet and activist Amanda Gorman.

I remember my mother giving me money to buy books at the school book fair. It was amazing walking through the room with all these books!

“Because I was that little 8, 9-year-old kid saving up every single penny I had all year so I could go to the book fair — not to buy any book, but to finally buy a book with characters and voices that looked like me and sounded like me as a Black girl with a speech impediment.”

More than 1,500 authors and illustrators signed a petition last week calling on Scholastic to end the “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” program, decrying the segregation of diverse titles as “harmful and wrong.”

Can you imagine what that little Black girl felt when she saw the books about Blacks segregated in section by themselves?

“We recognize and acknowledge the pain caused, and that we have broken the trust of some of our publishing community, customers, friends, trusted partners, and staff,” Berger wrote. “And we also recognize that we will now need to regain that trust.”

Publisher Weekly wrote,

Scholastic has responded to accusations of censorship at its book fairs stemming from the creation of a new diverse stories offering, called "Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice," which librarians and school officials hosting fairs must decide whether to offer or not.

In a statement late last week, Scholastic said that it created the collection for U.S. elementary school book fairs as a way to continue providing diverse books, as a number of states and localities pursue legislation or other policies around content selection that could put librarians and school officials in jeopardy.

“There is now enacted or pending legislation in more than 30 U.S. states prohibiting certain kinds of books from being in schools—mostly LGBTQIA+ titles and books that engage with the presence of racism in our country," the company said late last week. "Because Scholastic Book Fairs are invited into schools, where books can be purchased by kids on their own, these laws create an almost impossible dilemma: back away from these titles or risk making teachers, librarians, and volunteers vulnerable to being fired, sued, or prosecuted.”

Critics, however, have pointed out that many of the books in the Share Every Story collection are not controversial. Furthermore, it is unclear what, if any penalties, librarians or school officials might face for marketing titles with diverse representation in a book fair setting.

I don’t fault Scholastic Book Fair they are faced with bigotry around the country and they have to navigate around the laws in different states, and the untested legal grounds became a quagmire.

The New York Times said,

Among the books included on the list were biographies of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson of the Supreme Court and the civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis; a novel about a Lakota girl; and a picture book about different family types, including families with adoptive or same-sex parents.

The list of the separated titles was called the “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” catalog. Book fair organizers have had the ability to opt out of all or some of those titles.

But after Scholastic publicly acknowledged the new, separate catalog this month, the company was pilloried in many quarters, with critics saying Scholastic was accommodating censorship.

The Times article goes on to write…

Jennifer Jenkins, a member of the Brevard County School Board, in Central Florida, said she would prefer that Scholastic and other publishers refuse to do business in Florida.

“Ultimately, the residents of the state would realize how detrimental this is to their students,” she said, “and those impacts would show up at the ballot box.”

But is that even the right decision to make? Is there even a right decision to make, will all them be challenged? By not holding the fair they are denying the children the access to books.

Scholastic Book Fair was just trying to navigate the best they could, I feel no matter what they did they would have been criticized. It is uncharted waters. It is the Republican politicians that created this quagmire.

In their head strong rush to appeases their evangelical base they didn’t think of all the ramifications of their laws. They didn’t think about the First Amendment, they didn’t think about the racism, they didn’t about the bigotry… they were on a mission from god! They had the sword of justice on their side.

The Republicans were “Blinded by the Light” and were wrapped up in the flag, god, and apple pie. They believe that they are saving the children. No I don’t blame the Scholastic Book Fair, I blame the MAGA Republicans. They created all this for just one thing… power!

---

Update Nov. 14, 2023 @ 8 AM

Moms for Liberty got wacked in the elections!

Moms for Liberty asks Oklahoma to drop book fair vendor, claiming it’s promoting ‘radical viewpoints, sexual ideologies’

KFOR

By Kaylee Olivas

November 14, 2023

The Moms for Liberty Oklahoma chapter is requesting a change of book fair vendors because of “radical viewpoints and sexual ideologies” being pushed in reading material.

In a Moms for Liberty Oklahoma press release from Friday the group said, “It has become undeniable that a regularly occurring conduit for inappropriate books into schools across Oklahoma is through Scholastic, particularly through their book fairs.”

The parent led advocacy group claims several Scholastic books violate Oklahoma law.

“Scholastic, a once trusted company that happens to be one of the top publishers of children’s books, now appears largely focused on indoctrinating youth with radical viewpoints and sexual ideologies from a very young age at an increasingly rapid rate,” a Moms for Liberty Oklahoma press release reads.

Now the elections on Tuesday November 7 Moms for Liberty lost big in the elections being rejected big time by the voters (I wrote about it here.).

Defense of Democracy Oklahoma Chair, Bailee Tyler told KFOR her initial response to the Moms for Liberty press release was “here we go again.”

Moms for Liberty’s press release explains it’s a parent’s right to visit the library and the book fair to oversee what kids may be exposed to. However, parents are already allowed, and encouraged to visit the Scholastic school book fair, according to the publisher’s website.

“It’s just another thing they come up with to fight and make a fuss and to continue their attack on public education,” said Tyler. “Scholastic book fairs are ran by parents. Typically, parents sit down and pick out the books with their children. What is happening that they’re seeing that we’re not?”

The New Republic wrote;

But on Tuesday, voters across the country pushed back on the Moms for Liberty agenda. The organization endorsed more than 130 candidates across the country, and the vast majority of them lost—with some failing to get more than single-digit support.

All four Moms for Liberty-backed candidates in Minnesota lost, as did all four in Washington state. The group endorsed 19 candidates for school boards in New Jersey, but only four won.

But it seems like MoL still think they are on a mission from god. 

KFOR goes on to write,

News 4 reached out to Moms for Liberty early Monday morning for an interview about specific examples of indoctrination.

“I haven’t heard anything back yet so we will be unable to meet your deadline,” said a Moms for Liberty media representative an hour after our deadline.

I don’t think that they will ever hear back from MoL.