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By Lauren Myracle
Katie-Rose, Yasaman, Milla and Violet are in Fifth grade. And they were all named after flowers.
That's about all they have in common. They're certainly not friends.
See, Katie-Rose is going to be a film director. Yasaman's already a computer nerd. Milla's popular. And Violet's the new girl.
But add one "evil queen bee," Modessa, and suddenly all their worlds collide!
Lauren, the author of "Luv Ya Bunches," is one of my heroes. Here's why: She was told that if she changed Milla's two moms to be a one-mom-one-dad family, she's have her book accepted into Scholastic's School Book Fairs. That meant a LOT more sales. More money. More exposure. But Lauren stood her ground, saying
""A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn't be 'cleaned up.'"She refused to make the change, and then Scholastic refused to carry her book in their school book fair.
THANK YOU, Lauren, for standing up for your artistic integrity. For standing up for all the children (like mine) who are growing up in two mom or two dad families. For standing up for all those kids who are gay, to let them know that sometimes a Prince ends up with a Prince. And a Princess ends up with a Princess. And that's just another kind of "Happily Ever After!" (Read more on this episode of censorship here.)
Please add your review of "Luv Ya Bunches" in comments!
6 comments:
It looks as though Scholastic has changed their minds...
http://onourmindsatscholastic.blogspot.com/2009/10/news-regarding-lauren-myracles-luv-ya.html
The upshot of Scholastic's statement in the link above is that
"Having completed our review of Luv Ya Bunches, Scholastic Book Fairs will carry the title in our spring fairs for middle school."
Which does seem like progress. They've agreed to carry the book, lesbian mom characters intact, in their Book Fair.
However, there are still 2 issues that need to be addressed:
1. The book is about 5th grade girls. We all know kids read UP. The suggested age range is 9-13. WHY is this book not going to be in their elementary school Book Fairs? How many 7th and 8th grade girls are going to want to buy a book about 5th graders?
2. Scholastic keeps saying "Scholastic does not censor books." They are not discussing the FACTS about what occurred. Lauren Myracle was asked to change the characters to make them heterosexual. She was told if she didn't make the change, the book would not be carried in the Book Fairs. THAT IS CENSORSHIP. Scholastic needs to admit that they made a mistake and be more transparent about how they will change their system to avoid this kind of CENSORSHIP in the future.
We're making progress. But there's still a ways to go.
Namaste,
Lee
So glad Scholastic changed their mind! I signed the petition :)
Here's an award for you http://blackteensread2.blogspot.com/2009/10/award-waiting-on-wednesday-blessings.html
Love your blog!
I also agree that Scholastic needs to ackowledge that they made a mistake and you're right not manny middle schoolers will want to read about 5th grades. Baby steps
I'm really glad Scholastic heeded us. According to change.org, Scholastic has also said that in future they will "consider all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents.” That's terrific (if a little bit like, duh why weren't they already doing that.) Scholastic is trying to play it cool, but it's obvious to anyone that it was censorship even though they'll probably never admit it or apologize.
When an individual apologizes and says, "I made a mistake" without any qualifiers or excuses, I respect that individual all the more. I'll do the same for companies, but first they have to get there.
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