Amanda Gorman, 25, is a poet and author. She’s also Catholic. She famously was the inaugural poet at Joe Biden’s Inauguration Day in 2021. On Oct. 19, she posted a video on social media saying she’s upset by a recent decision made by Scholastic — a publishing company that often holds book fairs in American schools.
In this episode of The Download, hosts Christine Niles, Alex Karzon and Bradley Eli discuss the controversy about Scholastic giving schools and educators a way to opt out of featuring children’s books involving topics like race and sexuality. The company announced the policy in a statement dated Oct. 13. Then, in a reversal dated Oct. 25, Scholastic appeared to say it will look for a different approach to be implemented in January.
