Not so Fantastic, Scholatstic!

Two weeks ago my son brought home his first Scholastic book club order form from pre-school. Just the smell of that flimsy paper sent hundreds of memories from my own elementary experience flooding back to me. I started Scholastic's book club in Kindergarten, and continued in the classroom and by mail until about 6th grade. I immediately sat down with a pen and put stars by the things I wanted to buy for my boys, just like I used to for myself. I even let Winston, the pre-schooler, mark his own choices with the pen. We ordered far too many books; on Halloween, and Jewish holidays, and monsters, and school. They came in last week and I think I was more excited than the boys were!

But there are two stories in the news that are clouding my positive outlook on Scholastic's book club. First, because of a massive campaign by parents here and in Canada, Scholastic has decided to pull the Bratz books from it's pamphlets. Now, I don't like Bratz Dolls or anything else that goes with them. Just the name of the doll itself is enough to turn me off, not to mention their horrendous make up, clothes, and general attitude. What bothers me about Scholastic pulling books is that they, well, pulled the books. There is a fine line that parents have to walk between protecting their children and sheltering them too closely.

Part of the joy, for me at least, of the Scholastic book club program was the ability to pick my OWN books. On the whole, looking at the order form my son brought home, the books in the program are not generally what a parent might choose for their child. There are a few classics interspersed among the titles, but they’re really books that appeal to KIDS. So let you child choose their own book! And if, upon inspection, there is something you don't feel is appropriate, then talk about it with your individual kid. I don't think the entire collection of Bratz literature needs to be pulled. My son gets to pick his own books at the library, and even today got to "wish list" two books from the Scholastic book fair going on right now. He chose a book based on the Littlest Pet Shop toys, which is generally marketed toward girls. Scholastic’s own original defense for including Bratz dolls seems to encourage the focus on the child’s choices stating that their mission was to, “ “offer materials that appeal to children where they are, not where we would like them to be." “

Some of the most gruesome YA fiction I've ever read was ordered through the Scholastic book club. Should R.L. Stine's books not be included because they promote violence? What about Skippyjon Jones? He is ever so slightly, culturally insensitive. Does he need to go too? If the implications of the parents who wanted the books pulled are true, then everything read on a school campus is a direct reflection on the values of the school.

After reading about the Bratz dolls I remembered another Scholastic news story I'd heard about recently. The gorgeous Dana Loesh of Mamalogues posted about Scholastic's denial of homeschooler participation in a contest they were running along with Subway back in May. Essentially, Scholastic and Subway determined that the prizes for their contest would be better fitted to a state sponsored school because they could reach more children that way. They completely ignored the large homeschooling groups, who may purchase their products, and could benefit from the athletic equipment they were donating. Their later apology promised to include homeschoolers in future contests but they were still left out of the current one. So it's alright for Scholastic to pull an entire collection of books from it's clubs because of parental outrage, but it's not ok for parents dedicated to educating their children to participate in their contests?

This, to me, is a very slippery slope that Scholastic is walking on. They're censoring children and parents alike, when they're motto is ""... to provide quality, affordable books that meet the wide range of reading levels and interests of today's students and help every child develop a love of reading." How can children develop a true love of reading when the books THEY might choose to read aren’t available to them?
I will continue to participate, for now, in the Scholastic program at my child's school as a support to him. But I plan to order the most taboo books on the form next month, and to be conscious of their label when book shopping elsewhere.




FYI: This is about a month old, but I thought it deserved to be posted....