It is the most personal story Maggie Tokuda Hall has ever written, and how her grandparents met in an Idaho internment camp that held Japanese Americans during World War II. , is a depiction of how one fell in love.
The book, called “Love in the Library,” is aimed at ages 6 to 9. Published last year by small children’s publisher Candlewick Press, the book garnered glowing reviews but sold modestly. So Hall Tokuda was thrilled when publishing giant Scholastic, which distributes books and materials to 90 percent of schools, announced last month that it wanted to license her books for use in classrooms.
Tokuda Hall was depressed and then furious when he read the details of the offer. Scholastic asked readers to remove references to racism in America from the author’s memo addressed directly to them. Tokuda Hall said her decision was tough, but she turned down Scholastic and went public, explaining her own predicament in a blog post. Twitter post It has been viewed more than 5 million times.
Tokuda Hall’s revelations sparked outcry among children’s book authors and brought intense scrutiny to the editorial process of the world’s largest children’s publisher. The explosion has fueled efforts to ban books in schools, particularly those about race and sexuality, as culture wars re-edit already published works to remove potentially offensive content. Occurred when causing doubts about whether there is a need.
“We’re all seeing what’s going on with this growing culture of book bans,” Tokuda Hall said. “We all know that the country’s largest children’s publisher, the publisher with the most access to schools, has surrendered behind closed doors and is asking authors to alter their work to meet such demands. If so, you can’t be a socially marginalized writer.You can find an audience.”
Scholastic acted quickly to contain the fallout. The company apologized to Tokuda Hall and illustrator Yasu Imamura and offered to publish the book with the author’s annotations. Tokuda Hall declined the offer, saying he was unsatisfied with the company’s efforts.
The company also postponed the production of a collection that included “Love in the Library,” which was supposed to include about 150 books by or about Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, but what’s the problem? I am considering whether it was
In the case of Tokuda Hall’s book, Scholastic’s proposed edit included deleting a sentence in which she contextualized her grandparents’ experiences as part of “a deep-rooted racist tradition in America.” . The company also asked for the removal of sentences that linked prejudice against Japanese Americans to current and past manifestations of racism. In it, Tokuda Hall describes a culture that “accepts the killing of black people by the police” and “cages children at the border”. ”
In an email to Tokuda Hall shared by The Times, Mr. Candlewick said schools would shy away from buying books containing such outspoken comments about racism during this “particularly politically sensitive” time. I conveyed Scholastic’s request and company’s concern that it might be. On Amazon and Goodreads, some readers complained that Tokuda Hall’s message was too political for younger readers.
Shortly after Tokuda Hall posted about the incident on April 12, several authors and educators invited to Scholastic to discuss and supervise a series containing Tokuda Hall’s books said: condemned He condemned the company’s actions and demanded a thorough overhaul of its editorial process.
Sayantani Dasgupta, one of the authors consulted about the collection, resigned in protest. “They preemptively censor the collection and say, ‘We’re going to present a variety of stories, but we’re only going to present them in the most favorable way,'” Dasgupta said.
A similar controversy erupted recently over efforts to remove discussions of racism from school textbooks. One of the textbook publishers, Studies Weekly, came under fire after it revised its elementary school textbooks so that Rosa Parks’ story did not contain references to racism or race.
But many were shocked to hear that a major commercial publisher like Scholastic was calling for such a revision.
More than 650 librarians and educators, who make up the majority of Scholastic’s customer base, petitioned Scholastic to release the book in its original form, asking them to “consider the decision to censor the book.” He demanded that he take public responsibility.
Gillian Heise, a Wisconsin elementary school librarian who organized the petition, said the original author’s notes were something young children, many of whom experience racism in their daily lives, could work on. .
“Children understand at a simple level that it is unfair when people are treated differently based on who they are, how they are perceived, or what they look like. you can,” she says. The conversation “helps their self-awareness and perception of the world develop along with empathy,” she continued.
Scholastic CEO Peter Warwick said in an interview Thursday that the company appreciates “every aspect of its curation approach.”
“Scholastic has extensively published diverse voices and stories, and the fact that this incident occurred in the context of our diverse publishing is of particular concern to all of us,” said Warwick. said Mr.
After Tokuda Hall’s complaint, the company decided to postpone the entire recall within 24 hours, Warwick said. Two external experts were invited to investigate how the collection was curated and edited. This review will consider not only the series, including “Love in the Library”, but also the entire “Rising Voices” program, which includes other collections such as “Elevating Latino Stories” and “Celebrated Girls of Color”.
The review will explore whether and how other books have been edited to remove potentially polarizing ideas, Warwick admitted.
Another author whose book was to be featured in the same series as “Love in the Library” said his work was edited to paraphrase a line that some might consider politically sensitive. He said he deleted the idea. According to the author, when Scholastic requested the change, it explained in an email to the author’s publisher that the reason was concerns about the political climate driving censorship in schools.
The author requested anonymity and withheld any personally-identifying details regarding his editorial, citing his ongoing relationship with Scholastic.
The debate comes as Scholastic seeks to maintain a foothold in schools, which typically sell more than 100 million books a year to 35 million children through fairs. there is
Like other publishers, Scholastic has made efforts in recent years to increase the diversity of its authors and titles. The company has produced movies featuring LGBTQ characters, including best-selling graphic novel series Heartstopper about a romantic relationship between two high school boys, and tackling complex issues of race, gender, sexuality and cultural identity. I have published periodical works.
Scholastic licenses and distributes books from other publishers for school-focused programs such as clubs, fairs and the education sector.. Two publishing executives at other companies with first-hand knowledge of Scholastic’s license said it’s not uncommon for the company to request changes to text that has already been published.
A publishing executive told The Times that the requested changes usually include removing profanity and violence. An executive at another children’s publisher, which regularly licenses books to Scholastic, said Scholastic intended to soften content that could be politically sensitive or polarizing. He said he had asked for changes several times. Both executives spoke on condition of anonymity about the editorial process, which is usually classified.
It’s unclear how Scholastic’s editorial practices will change in the wake of the current controversy. Some of the authors whose work was included in the same collection as Love in the Library are watching Scholastic’s next move closely.
“This is a collection of stories that needs a wider audience,” said Katrina Moore, whose book Teeny Houdini: The Dislapseing Act was to be included. “I would like to continue to participate in collections, but I have to be happy with how they are progressing.
audio creator Jack Disidro.