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Ditch The Characters For The Classics
The Tampa Tribune
September
26, 2008
Scholastic Inc., the purveyor of children's books that holds a virtual monopoly on elementary
school book fairs and monthly mail-order book sales, has dropped the hyper-sexualized Bratz dolls from its line of books.
Children's literature lovers are applauding, but Scholastic didn't go nearly far enough.
It's hard not to notice the
influence of popular television and movies on Scholastic's offerings. While the company publishes many stellar titles - Harry
Potter, the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and the works of Judy Blume - their regular offerings smack of Saturday
morning television and the mega-mart toy aisle.
At a recent book fair in Hillsborough County, young readers could find
plenty of books about Sponge Bob, Barbie, Transformers and Pokemon, but would have been hard pressed to turn up more than
one Caldecott Award winner.
And the timeless classics of children's literature? Forget about them.
But a company
committed to literacy ought to recognize that quality counts in the material children read. They should keep in mind that
many families rely on Scholastic for affordable children's books, and they don't want a cheap imitation of what literature
should be.
Scholastic would do a new generation of young readers a tremendous service by making the best of their titles
readily available and minimizing overtly commercial works.
Even the most artfully written Sponge Bob book will subtly
encourage its young readers to watch the show. And if they're busy watching, they aren't reading.
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