The Association of Book Publishers of BC (Books BC) endorses the Association of Canadian Publishers (ACP’s) recently released statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court Decision Limiting Access to Inclusive Children’s Books.
We join the ACP in expressing our dismay at the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that will permit parents to opt their children out of public school instruction that includes books with LGBTQ+ themes, citing religious objections, with the overall impact of marginalizing and erasing queer and gender-diverse representation.
At the centre of this case is Pride Puppy!, a picture book written by Canadian author Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin, and published by ACP and Books BC member Orca Book Publishers, based in Victoria, BC.
Writer Robin Stevenson writes in Macleans: “There is nothing in these illustrations that is remotely inappropriate for young kids. When I’ve read Pride Puppy to kids, they usually want to tell me about their own dogs’ names, or about a time they fell over, like the kid in the book. They like it when the puppy makes a mess, and when the dog and family are reunited. But some people object to LGBTQ+ people and families being in books at all—and rather than admit that, they misrepresent books like mine.”
Andrew Wooldridge, publisher of the books at Orca Book Publishers on Vancouver Island recently told Global News: while books have been banned for various reasons before, what is happening lately is a “more chilling” trend, especially “in terms of people choosing to target particular groups of people in the books that are being read in schools in particular.”
“What we’re seeing in this is that more and more of the books we’re publishing about LGBTQ issues are being challenged and pulled off shelves and I think that even if that book is not challenged there is the danger that it’s not being purchased or put on the shelf because people are afraid,” Wooldridge said.
Books BC recognizes the “chilling effect” such book challenges has on the book industry and joins the ACP in affirming our “solidarity with the publishers, authors, educators, and librarians who continue to champion inclusive storytelling in the face of mounting opposition.”