On the Freedom to Learn movement’s National Day of Action, May 3, Candlewick Press will discount the ebook editions of Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrator Yas Imamura’s picture book Love in the Library and married pair Frederick Joseph and Porsche Joseph’s YA collection, Better Than We Found It: Conversations to Help Save the World.
Love in the Library tells the story of Tokuda-Hall’s Japanese American grandparents, who met in Idaho’s Minidoka incarceration camp during World War II. Better Than We Found It offers perspectives on social justice action from more than 20 activists, celebrities, and political thinkers. Readers can download the ebooks for 99 cents apiece on May 3 only.
Both books provide anti-racist and equity-oriented information to young readers, reinforcing the goals of the Freedom to Learn National Day of Action. Freedom to Learn was launched by the African American Policy Forum, whose co-founder and executive director is Columbia Law School professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, who coined the terms intersectionality and critical race theory. AAPF and Freedom to Learn aim to gather a coalition to resist book bans and other threats to inclusive education.
In an open letter, Freedom to Learn opposed “the attacks being waged on educational curricula in the United States and elsewhere against intersectionality, critical race theory, Black feminism, queer theory, and other frameworks that address structural inequality.” In particular, they called out the College Board’s watering down of its Advanced Placement African American Studies curriculum.
As AAPF and Freedom to Learn organized for May 3, Tokuda-Hall faced her own curriculum-related challenge related to Love in the Library. In mid-April, she wrote on her blog that Scholastic had invited her to publish Love in the Library as part of a Rising Voices Libraries school materials collection, Amplifying AANHPI, on the condition that she remove a paragraph about racism from her author’s note. Tokuda-Hall refused, her blog post went viral, and hundreds of authors signed an online anti-censorship petition to support her. Scholastic soon apologized, and CEO Peter Warwick expressed “a sincere hope that we can start this conversation over and still be able to share this important story… with the author’s note unchanged.” (Tokuda-Hall still has not decided whether to accept Scholastic’s offer.)
After the controversy arose, AAPF reached out to Tokuda-Hall. “I was really honored,” Tokuda-Hall said. “AAPF doesn’t mince words about what they’re fighting for and against, something I find both absolutely necessary and deeply refreshing. There’s no call from them to cede ground to those who’d demand we rewrite or erase history, no neutrality about the rise of fascism.” The organization’s firm stance, she said, “encompasses why I stood up publicly to Scholastic. Their vision—a multiracial democracy—is my dearest hope.”
Tokuda-Hall informed Candlewick about the impending Day of Action, suggesting it could be “a great opportunity to popularize their invaluable work.” Candlewick president and publisher Karen Lotz was listening. “We have been in close conversation with Maggie for the past several weeks about how best to amplify her message and her powerful indictment of the historic and present reach of racism, especially during May’s AAPI Heritage Month,” Lotz said. “It made perfect sense to plan the promotion for May 3, and to add Better Than We Found It, another title that encourages us to interrogate the failures of the past and present and to pursue a more equitable future.”
Candlewick already works with organizations including the National Coalition Against Censorship, Unite Against Book Bans, and PEN America. “In addition to these channels, we’re always looking for new and creative ways to ensure that readers can access challenged books,” Lotz said.
The flurry around Tokuda-Hall’s afterword also sent Love in the Library back to press. “We’ve been thrilled to see increased demand for this book, and have expedited a reprint,” Lotz said. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our production department, we were able to rush domestic printing and anticipate we’ll have more stock available in just a few weeks. In the meantime, the book is still available from some retailers, and we hope many people will use this opportunity to read the ebook and to preorder the reprint.” Although learning isn’t entirely free in this case, it’s a bit more affordable, and the promotion uplifts the Freedom to Learn project.
