Here’s who is behind the battle of the school book fairs

Conservative activists known for banning books in school libraries now have set their sights on the Scholastic Book Fair.

Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributer of children’s books and, with the help of librarians and PTA volunteers, hosts 120,000 book fairs across the United States annually. The book fairs serve as fundraisers for the schools and are a way to bring affordable books and educational materials directly to 35 million students and their families. Series such as Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus, and The Babysitter’s Club are all legends of the Scholastic universe.

Scholastic has helped cultivate millions of Americans’ love of reading.

So it comes as something of a surprise to hear former child actor turned rightwing shill Kirk Cameron attacking Scholastic, saying, “Their book fairs are now filled with the kind of progressive, socialist Marxist material that is undermining God, family and the country.”

In an interview with Glenn Beck last November, Cameron accused Scholastic of offering “instruction manuals for preteen children on how to have sex as another gender” and books for kindergarteners “grooming them to explore the world of drag.”

Cameron’s exaggeration

But like many far-right rants, Cameron’s remarks are exaggerations of reality that take the facts wildly out of context and obfuscate his own interests. These are the books that outrage Cameron:

Julian Is A Mermaid, a charming story about a little boy playing pretend and dressing up as a mermaid for the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade with the help of his abuela. There’s nothing in the story to suggest his desire to be a mermaid has anything to do with his sexuality or that Julian is a drag queen in the making. He is just a child playing dress up with a curtain mermaid tail.

Cameron’s so-called “instruction manual” is the humorous autobiography Welcome to St. Hell by trans author-illustrator Lewis Hancox. Hancox’s book is designed to help trans teens through the “trauma, confusion, hurt and dubious fashion choices” of high school and self-discovery, and to instill empathy in nontrans teens who read his book. It is not aimed at 8 to 12-year-old kids, as Cameron asserts, but is classified in the Scholastic catalog as “for ages 14 and up” and “grade nine and up.” A Scholastic representative confirmed Welcome to St. Hell is not available at any of Scholastic’s school book fairs, as Scholastic does not hold book fairs at high schools.

Attempt to replace Scholastic with his own brand

Cameron is using these attacks to persuade concerned parents to pressure their school boards into switching from Scholastic to Sky Tree Books.

“You can replace these harmful Scholastic Book Fairs with helpful, wholesome book fairs,” he said. “Books that have all been vetted and screened to take out all of the nasty pornography and the Critical Race Theory and the race stuff.”

Cameron sits on the board of Sky Tree Books, a nonprofit formed after his 2023 public library story hour tour for his own children’s book, As You Grow. Sky Tree solicits donations to hold its book fairs, which feature some traditional children’s books like Anne of Green Gables and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe along with contemporary books about Legos and Bluey.

But these selections are primarily a way for Sky Tree to get its foot in the door of public schools. Sky Tree is an arm of Christian nationalist children’s publisher Brave Books, whose stated goal is to “secure the hearts and minds of children” by teaching “pro-God, pro-American value(s).”

This vision statement, modeled on a counter insurgency strategy from the Vietnam War, makes complete sense when you consider the Brave Books website says, “We hope these books will stay with your kids throughout their childhood and will equip them with a BRAVE spirit to combat the very real battle we face as a nation today.” Although slightly tongue in cheek, the company’s commercial for one of its books is set in a post-Constitution world filled with Antifa and masked rioters tossing Molotov cocktails, where “people are stabbing and shooting each other.”

All the Brave Books, including Cameron’s, are set in the world of Freedom Island, a thinly veiled fantasy version of the United States, complete with a capital city called “Rushington” and a “Car-a-Lago Coast.” The animals that populate the island live in fear of Culture the Vulture and various other inanely named villains who try to ensnare Team BRAVE with liberal ideas like socialism, gun control and Critical Race Theory. In The Island of Free Ice Cream, the animals physically fight communist wolves who have convinced them to close the island’s market by promising free ice cream.

There are also activities for parents to do with their children to re-enforce the books’ morals. For The Island of Free Ice Cream, children and parents compete in a make believe spa to see who can give the best back massage, foot rub or head massage “to teach them how much customer satisfaction affects the success of a business in the free market.” Why a spa is unclear. The story itself does not feature one. To hammer home the lesson, parents are encouraged to “be assertive,” “push your kids’ patience” and “take back some of their Brave Bucks if the service is poor.” This aggressive celebration of capitalism is backed up with the Bible verse Proverbs 18:9, “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”

Rightwing authors

Brave Books isn’t interested in creating empathy or crafting an imaginative story.  Instead, their clumsy fables stoke fear and sow division. Their “authors” are culled from Fox News, X and other corners of the MAGA world. Neo-Nazi sympathizer Jack Posobiec is behind The Island of Free Ice Cream, and former spokesperson for the NRA Dana Loesch offers the pro-gun parable Paws Off My Canon. Michael Flynn has lessons on what makes a good leader and a good follower in The Night the Snow Monster Attacked. Fox News contributor Sara Carter teaches children about the importance of tough border control.

There is a book on fake news by Sean Spicer, and Dinesh D’Souza warns children about the dangers of socialism in Freedom Day the Asher Way. Chaya Raichik, known for harassing trans children through her Libs of TikTok account, wrote an allegorical book about public school teachers grooming students and helping them secretly transition. Current RNC chair and nepotism poster child Lara Trump tells kids about the “value of hard work” in The Never-Give-Up Pup.

At least, these are the names on the covers of these books. In most cases, staff writers familiar with the Brave canon do the actual writing. The company is expanding into chapter and middle grade books for older readers.

“Brave’s books are not going to make it onto school library shelves through their literary merit.”

Brave’s books are not going to make it onto school library shelves through their literary merit, which is one reason Sky Tree seeks to replace Scholastic as the go-to book fair. Schools who partner with publishers like Scholastic or Sky Tree can receive a cut of the book fair revenue, either in dollars or as credit with the book fair provider, which they can then use to buy more books from that provider. Brave Books donated two copies of all 26 of its books to Spotsylvania County Public Schools after the superintendent organized a book fair at one of the system’s schools.

Subterfuge at school boards

Kirk Cameron’s conservative media rants are aimed at affecting this switch, but they are not Brave’s only or even most eye-popping tactic.

During a November 2023 school board meeting in Conroe, Texas (the same month as Cameron’s interview with Glenn Beck), a man demanded the board ban Scholastic’s graphic novel Drama by author-illustrator Raina Telgemeier.  The “book bounty hunter” he employs flagged Drama as “inappropriate” because of the protagonist’s gay friends.

At the same meeting, a young woman also objected to the book, which she said she had read as an 11-year-old. She claimed a kiss in the book between two gay characters in a school play was to blame for her porn addiction and demanded the school board remove all Scholastic books and cut ties with the Scholastic Book Fair.

Reporting by a local journalist uncovered that the young woman who spoke was in fact Lanah Burkhardt, the public relations coordinator for Sky Tree Books. Sky Tree’s president, Riley Lee, and Brave Books’ founder and former ophthalmologist, Trent Talbot, also spoke at the meeting in support of switching to Sky Tree.

Ties to Moms for Liberty

To supplement these covert operations by its own employees, Sky Tree also has the support of rightwing activist groups such as Moms for Liberty, an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled an “anti-government extremist group” for its promotion of conspiracy theories. Moms for Liberty has received backing from groups like the Heritage Foundation and Publix heiress Julie Fancelli, who helped fund Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally.

In a press release, the Oklahoma chapter of Moms for Liberty said Scholastic was a “conduit for inappropriate books into schools” and asked for the vendor to be replaced. They also told parents it is their right to attend Scholastic Book Fairs and “oversee what (kids) may be exposed to” — an ironic call to action since Scholastic Book Fairs are often run and staffed by parent volunteers and the company encourages parents to shop with their children.

Aided by conservative legislation

Perhaps most formidably, Sky Tree is receiving help from conservative state legislatures that are passing laws designed to restrict the books available in school libraries. Such laws threaten librarians with severe penalties for disseminating “obscene” or “harmful” books, with just what constitutes “obscene” left intentionally vague.

Indiana school employees can face fines of $10,000 or two and a half years in prison for giving “obscene” material to minors. Tennessee lawmakers have removed the educational justification that once protected teachers from prosecution for using controversial materials in the classroom. Missouri now threatens librarians and teachers with one year in jail or a $2,000 fine for providing students material with visual depictions of things considered “sexually explicit.” As a result, school personnel removed most of the art history books, some world history books and a few books with photos of Holocaust victims from libraries for fear of being prosecuted.

“School personnel removed most of the art history books, some world history books and a few books with photos of Holocaust victims from libraries for fear of being prosecuted.”

To help librarians comply with these laws and others forbidding such things as the teaching of racism in U.S. history, sexual orientation, gender identity and Critical Race Theory, Scholastic curated the “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice” catalog, listing 64 of their books for elementary schools that state legislators might deem controversial. It did not last long. Scholastic quickly discontinued the resource because school librarians objected to the company’s participation in censorship. Cameron insinuates the protest by school librarians and liberals proves they are depraved for wanting book fairs to include these controversial titles.

However, the main reason librarians objected is that, aside from one book celebrating different kinds of families, including ones with LGBTQ members, the cautionary catalog was primarily comprised of books about historic African American figures like Ruby Bridges, John Lewis and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, or books featuring protagonists of color: a Lokota girl trapped in a magical world, a Mexican American retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” and a young Muslim boy playing with his mother’s headscarf. The list also included books whose main character has Down syndrome, one with brittle bone disease, and a touching story about a brave girl from Rwanda who journeys to Texas for surgery to correct a congenital deformity in her legs.

While Scholastic withdrew the “Share Every Story” catalog, it is chilling that the company feared states would penalize schools and librarians for selling these books to children. Sky Tree is trying to capitalize on the controversy without disclosing the titles on the list.

Higher goals than book fairs

And make no mistake, supporters of Sky Tree Books have their sights set higher than book fairs.

“It’s not just time to take back our libraries and literature. It’s time to take back every area of culture that these animals have devoured.”

“It’s not just time to take back our libraries and literature. It’s time to take back every area of culture that these animals have devoured,” said Cameron. Such language from Christian nationalists like Cameron, who paint those who disagree with them as less than human and not due the consideration or respect human beings made in God’s image deserve, should raise alarm bells in minds of all freedom-loving people because dehumanization is the bedrock of every form of prejudice, oppression and exploitation.

Comparison to Nazi prograganda

Taken to the extreme, it is the language of the Nazis, who also used children’s books in homes and schools to indoctrinate German kids. Consider these parallels:

In 1936, a private publisher with Nazi sympathies released a children’s book, Trust No Fox On the Green Meadow and No Jew On His Oath and gave 100,000 free copies to schools. The book’s title comes from a 1543 pamphlet by Protestant Reformation founder Martin Luther called, “On the Jews and Their Lies.” Trust No Fox is a colorful little hardback with a smiling sinister fox on the cover and inside illustrations of rosy-cheeked residents in a nursery rhyme village. But upon closer inspection, one notices the Jewish characters are drawn as shifty, dark and dangerous with gray skin and large noses. They are bent on corrupting German society and must be driven out. In one illustration the blonde, cherubic German children harass Jewish children and their teacher. Pointing and laughing, they force them from the schoolhouse. On another page, a large sign warns a Jewish family they are not allowed in the park. The book normalizes segregation and gives children permission to ostracize and abuse their “enemies.”

Another 1930s children’s book, The Poisonous Mushroom, warned readers of the dangers of Jewish people who may appear good, like an edible mushroom, but were lethal. The Poisonous Mushroom also pushes the antisemitic narrative of Jews as Christ-killers only interested in making money. (Shockingly, this book is still in print and was only removed from Amazon in 2020.)

The animal villains in the Brave books are eerily reminiscent of these Jewish caricatures. Culture the Vulture is hunchbacked with a hooked beak. The hyenas and wolves who threaten Freedom Island are depicted in shades of gray and must likewise be driven out. Most troubling, one of Brave’s books is The Treasure of Cabal Island, which warns children against the dangers of greed while utilizing a recognized antisemitic dog whistle in its title.

These parallels, when paired with the rhetoric of the publishers and their advocates, is truly worrisome. Brave’s CEO Trent Talbot touts their books as “designed to equip your children to fight in our land the same way our heroes defend Freedom Island.” Note the preposition: fight in our land, not for our land.

Brave’s first book was the anti-trans Elephants are Not Birds and featured the debut of Culture the Vulture, who convinces a young elephant he can live as a bird. This bigoted book was written by Ashleigh St. Clair, a right-wing commentator who was fired by Turning Point USA for her association with white nationalists, including Holocaust denier and Trump dinner companion Nick Fuentes, and some who stormed the Capitol on January 6. None of that bothers Talbot who said, “I would love to see it (Elephants are Not Birds) taught in schools and on summer reading lists, and we’re going to fight to make that happen.”

As parents, school boards and communities are being asked to contemplate changes to school libraries and book fairs, they need to know who the messengers of this change are and consider carefully what the true danger is and where it truly lies.

 

Kristen Thomason is a freelance writer with a background in media studies and production. She has worked with national and international religious organizations and for public television. Currently based in Scotland, she has organized worship arts at churches in Metro D.C. and Toronto. In addition to writing for Baptist News Global, Kristen blogs on matters of faith and social justice at viaexmachina.com.

 

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