squad by maggie tokuda hall read online free

For my resentment of being put in a position where I had to choose between my career and my ethics.

For the opportunity I had, just moments ago, been so thrilled to receive, gone just as fast. It was a Faustian Bargain, and I couldn’t take it. The removal of the word RACISM made it all too clear. Always, our voices are the first sacrifice at the altar of marketability.Īnd excuse my language, but absolutely the fuck not.įor a moment I wondered if there was a way to edit it so we could agree on it? But then I looked at the proposed edit, the one my offer was contingent upon again. To assuage white guilt with stories that promise to make them better people, while never threatening them, not even with discomfort. They want to sell our suffering, smoothed down and made palatable to the white readers they prioritize. They want the credibility of our identities, want to market our biographies. The irony of curating a collection tentatively titled Rising Voices: Amplifying AANHPI Narratives with one hand while demanding that I strangle my own voice with the other was, to me, the perfect encapsulation of what publishing, our dubious white ally, does so often to marginalized creators. Not anything that might offend those book banners in what they called this “politically sensitive” moment. They wanted to take this book and repackage it so that it was just a simple love story. And sure enough that was exactly what they wanted to remove.īut not only that: the word RACISM would be removed from the author’s note altogether.

It was going to be the paragraph that inspires 1 star reviews from angry patriots, the one that sends them to my inbox with words unfit to repeat here or anywhere. Without even looking I knew what it was going to be.

It’s a story I believe in, deeply, and a story that I think merits exposure– something Scholastic uniquely offers.Īnd Scholastic wanted to license the book! But only with a change to the author’s note. It is also true that I wish it sold more copies than it has. There were starred reviews, Best of 2022 lists, personal letters from people whose families had been incarcerated to whom this story means so much. Our editor, Karen Lotz, helped shape the book into its best form while never demanding the story be told in a way she deemed might be more palatable. My publicist, Jamie Tan, of Candlewick did her job with sensitivity and respect. Yas Imamura’s illustrations are incredible. I’ve been really proud of Love in the Library’s successes. But as soon as I cleared the opening paragraph, my heart sank. And since I’m not published by Scholastic this seemed like a thrilling opportunity. If you’ve been in kids’ books for more than ten minutes then you are aware of the staggering reach of Scholastic.

Recently, I got an email with an offer from Scholastic’s Educational Division to license Love in the Library for an AANHPI narratives collection, I was thrilled.

Squad by maggie tokuda hall read online free