Why you might not see diverse picks at Scholastic Book Fairs

Scholastic Book Fairs have come under some scrutiny in more recent years, as it's been pointed out that they're not exactly fun when your family doesn't have extra money to spend on books.

And here's another cause for concern about them: they've added what some librarians call a "bigot button."

That is, schools that want to include books about LGBTQ characters and people of color have to mark a box requesting the "Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice" collection — these books aren't automatically included in the order.

Scholastic said, in a statement, that it's only keeping some diverse books separate from the main collection and acknowledged that it's an imperfect solution to its concern over running afoul of conservative states' legislations.

You can read more about the Scholastic Book Fair diversity problem at BookRiot, which links to a deeper dive into the problem.

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