UPDATE 9/22: A compromise in our favor was announced, but our work to fully reinstate book fairs continues!  Book fairs will be held this fall during evening hours at parent/teacher conferences.  This is detrimental to students whose parents are unable to attend parent/teacher conferences at night and we want to make sure there is no censoring of age appropriate books in the future, so the work continues!

Little Miami School District is in Maineville, OH.  Maineville is a small, suburban city and the Little Miami School District is home to 36,468 residents (according to the National Center for Education Statistics).  In the Little Miami School District, there are 5 schools - the Early Childhood Education Center, the Primary School, the Elementary School, the Middle School, and the High School.

Every year, kids get extremely excited for the Scholastic Book Fair.  They save up money, they walk down with their classes, they visit with their parents during conferences.  Most importantly, the schools get a huge benefit from these book fairs by getting more books and raising money.

We just learned today that the Little Miami School Board has decided to cancel this fall’s book fair.  Why?  Because there is an inclusive book involving a male-male romantic teenage couple that would have been available for purchase at the middle school book fair.  This book, Heartstopper, has been offered by Scholastic Books since 2019 but was recently made into a Netflix series, reaching critical acclaim.

A 2022 Gallup poll found that 7.1% of Americans identify as LGBT.  With the 2022 census estimating the American population at 333,287,557, this percentage means 23,663,417 Americans identify as LGBT - and that’s just the percentage who were comfortable sharing their identity.  The Trevor Project estimates that 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (ages 13-23) seriously consider suicide each year in the US.  At least one LGBTQ youth attempts suicide every 45 seconds.

In the time you have read this petition, at least three LGBTQ youth have attempted suicide.

Inclusive books make readers realize they are not alone.  Inclusive books help readers to branch out and understand different cultures, beliefs, and thoughts.  Inclusive books represent those who often are marginalized and unrepresented.  In this specific situation, inclusive books may be saving LGBTQ youth and helping them to not attempt suicide.

Little Miami is better than this.  Our kids deserve more.  Our future deserves more.  Bring back the Scholastic Book Fair with its inclusive material.  If someone does not want their child to read these books (which are all 100% age appropriate), do not buy it, but don’t rob another child of the chance to learn more and to better learn empathy and compassion.

Since the day we declared independence, our nation has prided itself on being a ‘melting pot’, full of diversity.  Canceling book fairs robs our children from being able to discover that exact beauty.

Help our children, help our schools, bring back the Scholastic Book Fair.