The book’s reception
Love in the Library was released in January 2022, receiving widespread praise from industry reviewers. It garnered starred reviews from Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal, as well as appearing on the 2023 ALSC Notable Children’s Books list and the 2022 Booklist Editor’s Choice list. It won the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award and the Georgia Children’s Picturebook Award and was the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year (2022) along with Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year (2022).
Love in the Library has been described as “An evocative and empowering tribute to human dignity and optimism,” (Kirkus), “Simple yet evocative [. . .] Alongside a sensitive introduction to life in Japanese internment camps, this picture book transcends its central romance to encompass love for books, community, and being 'human'” (Publisher’s Weekly), and ”A revealing exposé of unjust history and an exceptional tribute to love” (Shelf Awareness).
Picking up on its success, Scholastic approached Tokuda-Hall in April 2023, interested in licensing Love in the Library for distribution as part of their Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) collection. The opportunity came with a condition: Tokuda-Hall was asked to remove references of racism from her author’s note, something that both Tokuda-Hall and Imamura felt strongly should stay.
In a statement on her blog, Tokuda-Hall explained that at first, she “was thrilled” that Scholastic’s Educational Division was interested in distributing Love in the Library. “If you’ve been in kids’ books for more than ten minutes then you are aware of the staggering reach of Scholastic,” she wrote. But Scholastic’s conditions became clear after the first paragraph, and Tokuda-Hall said that her “heart sank.”
Scholastic might not have been interested in changing the contents of the story itself, but they took issue with Tokuda-Hall’s author’s note and wanted to remove the word “racism” altogether. “They wanted to take this book and repackage it so that it was just a simple love story,” continued Tokuda-Hall on her blog. ”Nothing more. Not anything that might offend those book banners in what they called this ’politically sensitive’ moment.”
Read the whole entry, including the full edits Scholastic requested, on Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s blog in the link below:
The request—and Tokuda-Hall’s response—gained traction online, pressuring Scholastic to rescind their edits and apologize. Peter Warwick, CEO of Scholastic, released a statement indicating the publisher's willingness to discuss the licensing and the trouble that they had caused. In it, he wrote,
"Love in the Library is a beautiful and important book, and we all agree that it would be a tremendous addition to this classroom library collection. However, in our initial outreach we suggested edits to Ms. Tokuda-Hall’s author’s note. This approach was wrong and not in keeping with Scholastic’s values. We don’t want to diminish or in any way minimize the racism that tragically persists against Asian-Americans."
He then states that he reached out to Candlewick Press in order to apologized to Tokuda-Hall, Imamura, and the rest of the team that worked on Love in the Library. As a result, Tokuda-Hall met with Warwick and Rose Else-Mitchell, the president of the Education Solutions in Scholastic, among others, with three concerns she wanted addressed, one of which was a statement on how Scholastic intended to combat the growing culture of book banning—a concern that Tokuda-Hall considered the most important of the three. Unfortunately, the publisher’s response remained unsatisfactory, and Love in the Library remains solely distributed through its original publisher, Candlewick Press.
Scholastic's full statement can be read in the link below:
Read the whole statement on Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s blog in the link below:
Sources
”Candlewick Press — awards/reviews/quotes.” Candlewick Press, https://www.candlewick.com/bookxtras.asp?isbn=1536204307&view=xtras. Accessed 01 Aug 2024.
”LOVE IN THE LIBRARY.” Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/maggie-tokuda-hall/love-in-the-library/. Accessed 01 Aug 2024.
”Love in the Library.” Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781536204308. Accessed 01 Aug 2024.
"OUR COMMITMENT TO SHARING DIVERSE STORIES." Scholastic News Room, https://mediaroom.scholastic.com/index.php?q=press-release/our-commitment-sharing-diverse-stories. Accessed 02 Aug 2024.
”Scholastic, and a Faustian Bargain.” Pretty OK Maggie, https://www.prettyokmaggie.com/blog/2023/4/11/scholastic-and-a-faustian-bargain. Accessed 15 Jul 2024.
”Shelf Awareness for Readers for Friday, January 21, 2022.”Shelf Awareness, https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers-issue.html?issue=1091#m19054. Accessed 01 Aug 2024.
”The Answer is Still No.” Pretty OK Maggie, https://www.prettyokmaggie.com/blog/2023/5/8/the-answer-is-still-no. Accessed 15 Jul 2024.