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https://www.prettyokmaggie.com/blog/2023/4/11/scholastic-and-a-faustian-bargain>
"Recently, I got an email with an offer from Scholastic’s Educational Division
to license
Love in the Library for an AANHPI narratives collection, I was
thrilled. If you’ve been in kids’ books for more than ten minutes then you are
aware of the staggering reach of Scholastic. And since I’m not published by
Scholastic this seemed like a thrilling opportunity. But as soon as I cleared
the opening paragraph, my heart sank.
I’ve been really proud of
Love in the Library’s successes. Yas Imamura’s
illustrations are incredible. My publicist, Jamie Tan, of Candlewick did her
job with sensitivity and respect. Our editor, Karen Lotz, helped shape the book
into its best form while never demanding the story be told in a way she deemed
might be more palatable. There were starred reviews, Best of 2022 lists,
personal letters from people whose families had been incarcerated to whom this
story means so much.
It is also true that I wish it sold more copies than it has. It’s a story I
believe in, deeply, and a story that I think merits exposure– something
Scholastic uniquely offers.
And Scholastic wanted to license the book! But only with a change to the
author’s note. My offer was contingent upon it. Without even looking I knew
what it was going to be. It was going to be the paragraph that inspires 1 star
reviews from angry patriots, the one that sends them to my inbox with words
unfit to repeat here or anywhere. And sure enough that was exactly what they
wanted to remove.
But not only that: the word RACISM would be removed from the author’s note
altogether."
Via Lisa Stranger and Kenny Chaffin.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
