This is a great apology. Almost TOO heartfelt!

Perfect ten out of ten for your PR department. You addressed the concern, removed the offending product from the marketplace, and promoted a different product in the same category while simultaneously admitting no guilt nor making any promises that you could not fulfill. Excellent response.

…charming. Just as charming as the series, really.

See guys! Don’t you feel foolish for overreacting?

Matt, people got upset because of the contents of the book. The “boys only” book had a lot of survival information inside of it while the “girls only” had chapters like:

How to Survive Embarrassment
How to Survive a BFF Fight
How to TEACH YOUR CAT TO SIT

If you wanna see it for yourself: http://ryannorth.tumblr.com/post/24675908508/boys-only-how-to-survive-anything-table-of

The books were horribly sexist, if not completely rude to any girl out there looking for actual survival tips.. which is really important to teach at a young age.

I’m glad Scholastic decided to apologize, but they’re not attempting to pull the books or even explain the reasoning behind such an asinine book. How am I going to explain to my child why boys get this but girls only get that?

As a mother of both girls and a boy, I don’t see why anyone thought these titles were a good idea in the first place. Combined, maybe it would fly, but this was a bad judgement on someone’s part.

What exactly does “no further copies will be made available” means? Both titles are “available for purchase” on your website. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/bookwizard/books-by/martin-oliver?inventory_qty=1

Hello there Scholastic. I wrote to you about a similar set of books in October of 2010 and received the following reply:

“Thank you for your thoughtful email regarding how gender is portrayed in The Girl’s and Boy’s Books. As you note, these books are very popular with young people who are taken with the illustrated nostalgic style. That being said, I don’t think anyone wants to return to a time when girls were not encouraged to participate in sports and boys were not free to explore their creative or artistic potential!”

I see nothing’s changed. Why do you continue to promote books that promulgate this utterly pointless gender essentialism? I will not purchase any more Scholastic products for my child.

Dear Scholastic,
I have two young children: a girl and a boy. I am an avid reader, and I hope they will be, too. Our bookshelves are already filled with books. Once they start grade school and begin reading on their own, I can guarantee you we will not purchase a single book from Scholastic. All your colorful flyers will go right into recycling. The How to Survive Anything books are ridiculous, insulting, and indicate that your staff consists mainly of morons. I wouldn’t dream of supporting any of you with actual money.

Best,
Lisa

Scholastic, your sexist garbage is still available for sale. Consider your audience and take some responsibility. You get a failing grade on self-awareness.

Hi Scholastic, your paragraph states that you’ve taken the books off the market (which as another commenter points out, hasn’t happened yet) and that it wasn’t selling. This implies that you have not thought seriously about the problem of gender essentialism and decided to make a change, but simply thrown people a bone because the book wasn’t selling anyway.

Am ordering copies. Too good a chance to pass up such great examples of outdated ideas that are still in circulation. Beginning teachers are hard to convince that gender bias still exists. These will be great examples. These examples of very bad editorial decision need to be pulled in case someone who does not recognize how insulting to both girls and boys these books are buys them.

Hello Scholastic. Just wondering if anyone on your editorial staff actually has children, and how they would feel about handing those books, at the same time, to their sons and daughters. What a horrible message to pass on to kids! If I worked there, I’d be insisting that these titles be pulled from the market completely, not just “no further copies made.” Also, really tacky to plug your other titles in your press release. No more Scholastic books for my kids until you issue a stronger response.

Why are these books still available on your website when you’ve claimed they are not?

What is the problem? They look like great books. In any case the titles have been discontinued, so why continue to whinge?

Weak. How about explaining how it happened in the first place? Did someone fall in a black hole and get transported back to 1952? I’m embarrassed for you.

Nice response. You obviously don’t really understand why people are upset.

I think the “How to Survive Anything” idea was good & the “Boy” book probably has a lot of really good information. Why wouldn’t you just release that book without the “Boys Only” caveat? My Girl Scouts would probably love it.
‘

Thank you so much for your response. I feel really taken seriously and appreciate that you realised in what time we are living. If it wasn’t for the website, I might assume we’re in the 18th century. Just to make sure: 2012. It’s called present.

If you don’t think “anyone wants to return to a time when girls were not encouraged to participate in sports and boys were not free to explore their creative or artistic potential”, as PJ DeGenaro quoted, you should stop publishing books like that and invest money into finding suitable authors for this instead of dismissing people with smooth answers from your PR department.

Publish the ‘Boys version’ for both gender and it’s a great book. For girls, boys and whomever is interested in that.

Dear Scholastic:

My nine-year-old and I are big fans of many of your products. We love the Royal Diaries Series in particular. But these two books????? We are both horrified. She would love the Boy’s version as she says that looks way more interesting.

I am a pediatrician and I help run our office’s Reach Out and Read program. We have gotten many great books from Scholastic and are very grateful for them. It horrifies me to see that you would publish such ridiculous books and saddens me that your response upon realizing your error wasn’t stronger.

Scholastic…

Your apology isn’t good enough. The offensiveness of your “girls” survival guide is stunning. The fact that you throw us a half hearted apology that smacks of “quit whining” doesn’t do you any favors. Also if you’ve actually heard us, make this unavailable to purchase.

You’ve just lost a life long customer while demonstrating single handedly why I am so passionate about feminism and fighting gender roles. If my daughter had come home with this, I would have burned it. Oh and PS, kudos on making it easier to hate being “girly”. Because apparently to be feminine you need to be vapid and self obsessed. So utterly disgusted.

I’m assuming that whoever wrote this apology hasn’t read the “Girls Only!” half of the survival series… there’s some pretty good advice on how to survive alienating the vast demographic of “parents who whine when their daughters are told to be quiet and submissive when ghosts (i.e. rapists) are about the house”

Seems like some of you people want them to cry and beg for your forgiveness. Something tells me they don’t care what you want. And even if they did apologize, we all know they wouldn’t mean it. They know they didn’t do anything wrong. Feminists make me sick with all their constant whining. Now, excuse me while I try to find myself copies of these books.

Amazing response (can’t say apology, nobody apologized)! Seems the books weren’t selling, too bad on that front. Maybe the next in the series will do better: Surviving Harsh Economic Times. For the boys, how to become pimps, and for the girls, how to turn tricks. You might also consider expanding this series beyond just boys and girls – why not bring race and/or religion into the mix? How to Survive Islam: Catholics only? Sounds like a winner to me!

I cannot believe that a company in the 21st century would actively reinforce stereotypes that seek to categorize knowledge based on gender. I am beyond offended that anyone would consider topics like teaching their cat how to sit appropriate material for a book on survival, let alone one marketed specifically for girls. Your so-called “response” does not even attempt to address these concerns, and so I will not be buying anything from or affiliated with Scholastic in the future. I cannot support a company would irresponsibly publish something so degrading in the 21st century.

Britt, people (especially women) who think that way about gender equality make /me/ sick. I hope you don’t have children because we don’t need more kids growing up under the care of ass-backwards people like you.

As for the book series itself, everyone else has pretty much covered my sentiments towards it. I can’t believe I grew up on their books; I wonder what ideas have been irresponsibly implanted in my own mind..

Dear Scholastic,

Like others I was highly offended by your Girls Only version of your How to Survive Anything series. I submit a revised list of topics for the new edition:

How to Survive on a Deserted Island
How to Survive the Jungle
How to Survive a Viral Outbreak
How to Survive a Hurricane
How to Survive a Kidnapping
How to Survive Getting Lost
How to Survive an Ice Storm
How to Survive a Power Outage
How to Survive Brothers
How to Survive a Heat Wave
How to Survive a Crush
How to Survive a Paranormal Encounter
How to Survive Drowning
How to Survive a Babysitting Emergency
How to Survive a Car Accident
How to Survive Embarrassment
How to Survive a Zombie Attack
How to Survive Phobias
How to Survive on $10
How to Survive a Head Injury
How to Survive a Broken Heart
How to Survive the Death of a Pet
How to Survive a House Fire
How to Survive Shyness

I hope you will give serious consideration to these suggestions. I know I would prefer my daughter to learn to survive a kidnapping or babysitting emergency to a fashion disaster or teaching her cat to sit.

Disgraceful.

If I were inclined to read the “For Girls” book — which I am not — I would immediately flip to, “How to apologize.” Because I don’t think you’re doing it right.

I am also a teacher, a parent, and a huge Scholastic fan who was really taken aback by the release of these books. I’m further taken aback — right to the 1950s, in fact! — by this non-apology.

I read a better one here. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you borrowed some of it: http://ryannorth.tumblr.com/post/24692626610/guys-did-you-hear-scholastic-apologized-for

I’m quoting M. Brown on another site where this was posted:
“To be fair, surviving a breakout is important.

Do you stay behind and hope for good behaviour at your next parole hearing, or take your chances with your fellow soon-to-be-ex-prisoners? You also need to spot the sudden betrayal coming to avoid being turned into the decoy. Be a player, not a pawn.

Oh. Not that kind of breakout. Never mind.”

Scholastic, giving the ‘Boy’s Version’ cool stuff and mostly vapid options for the girls is so frelled up. Also, boys babysit, too. This is so 1950 and it’s more than 60 years later. WAKE UP, people.

Scholastic. Just what on Earth were you thinking? What on were you thinking?

…My God. I cannot believe this.

As a teacher who not only purchases from Scholastic frequently, but also recommends the company to parents, I am appalled.

As much as you may want to sweep it under the rug now, I’m sure multiple employees of the Scholastic company had to approve the content of these books, and it’s clear that there was a mistake made.

Just as I tell my students, we all make mistakes- but then we need to fix it by admitting our error, apologizing, and possibly doing something to fix it (which, by my estimation, would mean not only pulling the books, but also donating to an organization promoting gender equality or helping girls to build self-confidence).

As a teacher blogger, I felt it was important for my readers to hear about this issue as well. You can read my response- and how I actively combat gender bias in my classroom- here:

http://luckeyfrogslilypad.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-survive-sexist-book-series.html

I hope that this is not the last we hear from your company regarding this series. You are a company that I trust, support, and recommend- and the handling of this situation makes my judgment waver.