Erica Perl's school visit was cancelled. She fought back. And won.

Erica writes about the experience over at School Library Journal, My School Visit was Cancelled. I Fought Back and Won.

Why was the visit cancelled? As Erica explained:

a parent had complained because of a social media video I had made celebrating Pride month. In it, I mention that Snail, a character in my Whale, Quail, Snail early reader series (illustrated by Sam Ailey), is nonbinary. Most snails are. “It’s a fiction series,” I add, “but that’s a fact.”

There's much more to the story, like Erica having a strong contract, a background as a lawyer, and the school wanting to penalize the librarian who had booked the visit by making the librarian pay out of her own pocket -- and how Erica fought that, too.

Erica sued, and won – the school paid her fee. As she explains, 

It’s not the win I wanted, because that would have had me standing in front of a gymnasium full of elementary school students.

...

In my case, one parent prevented an entire elementary school student body—over 400 kids—from having an author visit. That is a shame because, as any school librarian will tell you, author visits are transformative.

Read the full piece.

We are in a frustrating moment where intolerance to diversity is rampant. Standing up to injustice is really important, and I applaud Erica's standing up for herself -- like standing up against any injustice, it helps others, too!

Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee