According to the School Library Journal, Scholastic books is asking Lauren Myracle, the author of the new book "Luv Ya Bunches" to rewrite her story to exclude one of the character's parents because they are gay. The author is willing to clean up some of the "objectionable" language (words like "crap" and "sucks"), but refuses to de-gay the story since it reflects modern families. I'm so proud of Ms. Myracle for standing by her characters and her integrity rather than caving in to Scholastic which would help boost her royalties by selling tons more books.

Take action against Scholastic and sign the petition here or better yet: Call 1-800-SCHOLASTIC (800-724-6527) to complain. Please spread the word -- I know that scholastic is just protecting their bottom line and trying to be as non-controversial as possible to get into as many school districts as possible to make as much money as possible, but they don't need to make authors CHANGE their narratives to boost their bottom line! Businesses adapt to the regional needs of various interest groups - that much won't change. But to try to force an author to remove a story about a family headed by gay parents is offensive. What do you all think about Scholastic book fairs? Is this a losing cause? Should we just boycott them completely?

Here's what one librarian had to say about dealing with Scholastic:

School librarians/Teachers/PTA (anyone who hosts a book fair in a school): Look into other options, such as local independents, for book fairs to reduce Scholastic's corporate monopoly. With any book fair (Scholastic or otherwise), be sure to request age-appropriate books that include LGBT characters. Let the book fair provider know that these books are both welcome and necessary in your school book fair to meet the needs of your community.

Scholastic Inc.:
1) Make your book fair criteria public and transparent. Are books with gay characters automatically excluded from elementary school? Sometimes excluded? As a customer of Scholastic Book Fairs (both as a school librarian and as a parent of an elementary-school child), I want an answer.
2) Apologize for asking Lauren Myracle to change the sexual orientation of characters in Luv Ya Bunches. Yes, you have a review process and you can only include a small number of books in the fairs each year. You can exclude books; it's your choice. But there is NO EXCUSE for asking to change gay characters to straight. NONE. You made a big mistake. Apologize, and make a donation to Lambda Legal or some other organization that helps families.

Authors: Do not agree to Scholastic Book Fairs or anyone else censoring your book. You wrote your book a certain way--maybe with hell, damn, Oh my God--because you, and your editor, believed it was right for your book. If it's not right, take it out in the editing stage. If it is right, DON'T CHANGE IT. This is disrespectful, dishonest, and deceptive to your readers. You can't champion the freedom to read while you are agreeing to sanitized versions of your own books.

Three weeks ago another librarian and I were talking about how there are quite a few picture books with gay characters, and more YA books all the time, but very few novels with gay characters for readers in grades 4-8. I mentioned Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser as a good new example: the main character's best friend has two moms. Children need these books. We need to keep the pressure on. Read more at her blog: http://sixboxesofbooks.blogspot.com/2009/11/scholastic-censors-luv-ya-bu...