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If activist groups from the religious right have their way, Scholastic Book Fairs in Lancaster County and beyond may soon be replaced by a new Texas-based vendor called SkyTree Book Fairs that distributes pro-God, pro-America childrens books, LNP | LancasterOnlines Brett Sholtis reported last Sunday. In the past year, Scholastic has come under fire from some religious conservatives after agreeing to keep books about Black civil rights icons and LGBTQ+ characters in its elementary school collection.

If you want to ban Scholastic Book Fairs from schools, why not also ban recess and classroom parties and everything else that adds joy to childrens school lives?

Attending a Scholastic Book Fair with some crumpled dollar bills and parental instructions not to spend the money on scented erasers and kitten posters has been a treasured rite of American childhood for decades. Generations of children learned to love reading while turning the pages of books they discovered among the diverse offerings at their schools book fair.

Well, sorry, kids you may have to bid farewell to Pete the Cat and Junie B. Jones and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Instead, meet a gorilla named Bongo, a character in the 2021 book Paws Off My Cannon, by former National Rifle Association spokesperson and conservative TV host Dana Loesch. Emphasizing the importance of the Second Amendment, this book will make perfect reading material for your child as he or she hides in a classroom closet during a lockdown drill.

Then theres Lucas the lion cub, the main character in The Test of Lionhood, in which Lucas sister is poisoned and Lucas has to save the day. The book is meant to teach about the importance of masculinity and, presumably, about the helplessness of girls. Its author, Kevin Sorbo, is an actor who claims he was canceled by Hollywood for his conservative Christian beliefs which seems kind of whiny and weak from a guy who used to play Hercules.

And who needs The Baby-Sitters Club when your child can read The Night The Snow Monster Attacked, a book purportedly about good leadership penned by former U.S. Army Gen. Mike Flynn? Flynn was such an excellent leader that he urged then-President Donald Trump to declare martial law and deploy the military so Trump could get a mulligan on the 2020 presidential election. Never mind the U.S. Constitution, kids Flynn says that can be suspended to steal elections from their rightful winners because, leadership!

And heres the best part: The list price of each of these literary delights is $22.99 each.

Wed like to think that replacing a vast array of affordable books that children actually want to read with $23 books peddling right-wing propaganda will never happen. But never say never, especially when right-wing activists have been so effective in scaring parents about our changing world that once-reasonable politicians like state Sen. Ryan Aument now are pandering to those trumped-up fears.

And, as Sholtis pointed out, while the right-wing extremist group Moms for Liberty largely failed in its mission to help hard-right candidates get elected to school boards in other parts of Pennsylvania, their favored candidates have won control in multiple Lancaster County school districts, including Warwick School District.

Sholtis reported that Rachel Wilson-Snyder, chair of the Lancaster County chapter of Moms for Liberty, recently shared a link to SkyTrees website on the chapters private Facebook group. And Wilson-Snyder exhorted other parents to host a SkyTree book fair at their childrens schools. Bye Scholastic! she quipped.

As Sholtis noted, in places like Warwick School District, where Wilson-Snyder has been a vocal presence at public meetings, replacing Scholastic with SkyTree is a real possibility.

The trick is getting the school districts on board with switching from Scholastic to SkyTree, one member of the local Moms for Liberty Facebook group offered.

SkyTree takes its name from a book written by Kirk Cameron, who played a teenage character in the popular sitcom Growing Pains in the 1980s and early 90s and now is a Christian evangelist. Cameron has voiced virulently anti-LGBTQ+ views, so its perhaps not surprising that he released his second childrens book, Pride Comes Before the Fall, on June 1 the first day of Pride month.

Cameron has been cheerleading SkyTree on conservative media. Its benign name is belied by its agenda.

As Sholtis reported, a close look at SkyTree reveals it is a distribution channel for Brave Books, a publishing house that has faced ridicule and criticism for its bench of authors almost entirely composed of prominent conservative media figures.

On its website, Brave Books contends that its titles will serve as armor in the battle against an enemy that is firing arrows at the hearts and minds of your kids.

It continues: Cultural forces are hard at work attempting to steal the hearts and minds of your most prized possession, your children. This enemy would love nothing more than to leave your family weak, your children confused, and their value system destroyed.

We found these assertions mystifying. Who is the enemy trying to weaken families, confuse children and destroy family values? Scholastic stalwarts like Clifford the Big Red Dog? (Hes red, the color of the Communist Party of China flag, after all.) Pinkalicious, the little girl who ate so many pink cupcakes that her hair and skin turned pink? Is Pinkalicious working with the singer Pink, the pop musician who recently gave away 2,000 challenged books to audience members at her concerts in Florida? Is there something nefarious about Peppa Pig or Pig the Pug or Fly Guy?

Please, parents, let your kids be kids. Let them discover the joys of reading without seeking to indoctrinate them. If you dont want your kids to buy particular books at a school book fair, talk to them and suggest titles youre comfortable with the Scholastic website is very parent-friendly. You can plug in your childs age and grade level to find appropriate books. But dont try to keep books from other parents children. And remember: More often than not, a big red dog is just a big red dog.

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As the culture wars shift to school book fairs, please protect kids' joy ... - LNP | LancasterOnline

Regarding "Conservative issues stall after backlash in St. Charles County" (Nov. 16): While several high-profile conservative political efforts in St. Charles County have indeed stalled, opponents say they're gearing up for the next round in this epicenter of the culture wars.

There is no mistaking these boilerplate efforts are not confined to Missouri. Look no further than Collinsville, Illinois. The same conservative hair-on-fire blueprint was successfully weaponized during last year's consolidated election, replacing the Mississippi Valley Library Board (MVLB) with trustees and president of the Collinsville system with far-right candidates.

The MVLB President, Jeanne Lomax, proudly displayed her passion for extreme viewpoints while attending the Jan. 6, 2021, D.C. rally that became the insurrection at the Capitol. As board president, she removed rainbow bookmarks that were part of a "Libraries Transform" campaign.

This conservative majority among board members is currently engaged in effort to reduce the MVLB tax levy, cutting library finding. Citizens and elected officials working together, strengthening our institutions, shouldn't be a lost concept, even in our current divisive environment, but the momentum continues. National polls reveal Americans are tired of the circus-like atmosphere in politics.

Schools and libraries have a way of bringing communities and organizations together, engaging people who may have little common interests. We all want what is best for our schools, children, seniors, and the entire community. Libraries shouldn't be used as tools to advance a political agenda,diminishing their value and making them unwelcoming.

Doug MayCollinsville

NBC reports that Alabama's public library system flagged a children's book as being "potentially explicit" due to the author's last name being "Gay".

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Letter: Let's keep public libraries out of the right-wing culture wars - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

For Tyler, the final straw was a dustup over a video he showed his class a few months after he collected his prize. The video was about the seventeenth-century English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. It was hosted by John Green, author of the 2012 young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars. Green has engaged in some leftish activism, but the video, the third in a series called Crash Course U.S. History, isnt notably didactic. It is, however, irreverent and funny in a manner intended to appeal to adolescents, and if you look closely you can see, on the back of Greens laptop, a sticker that says THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS. The words are borrowed from Woody Guthrie, who, feeling patriotic one day about Americas war against Hitler and Tojo, painted them onto his guitar; factory workers producing war materiel had scribbled these same words onto their lathes. Tyler received an email from a father complaining that the sticker, which you can barely see, was a call for violence. A nonmetaphorical way to use a laptop (or guitar) to kill a fascist does not spring readily to mind, but that wasnt really the point, Tyler explained to me. He just doesnt like John Green. Greens sticker had previously drawn criticism from a Republican state legislator in New Hampshire, and Greens 2005 young adult novel, Looking for Alaska, had been targeted by Moms for Liberty, an influential hard-right group thats active in book-banning campaigns.

As a result of that single complaint, Tylers school barred him from showing his students any videos in the Crash Course series, even though hed been using them for years. Eventually, the school backed down and permitted Tyler to show some of (but not all) the Crash Course videos; however, the damage was done. It showed me that just one angry parent has a hecklers veto, Tyler said.

Tyler talked to his wife, Delana, and his adult stepson about seeking greener pastures. Delana was a teacher, too. She wasnt particularly eager to move. But she understood what they were up against, and, at the end of the school year, all three moved to Tylers native Michigan, where he took up a post teaching seventh graders in Petoskey, a small resort town on Little Traverse Bay. He got a 35 percent raise, too. I could tolerate the pay, he told me, but the culture wars are what finally convinced me. Things are so much better here.

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The Red State Brain Drain Isn't Coming. It's Happening Right Now. - The New Republic

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has dropped out of the GOP presidential primary. Scott has many admirable qualities that would have made him a compelling candidate in another year,. Still, given the state of the Republican race, his decision should be welcomed.

With former president Donald Trump holding a wide lead in public polling, the only remaining candidates with so much as a prayer to pull off an upset are Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. Scotts continued presence in the race would have made that less likely. Scott did the right thing, and it behooves other candidates to cede to the campaigns that have a shot at defeating Trump.

DeSantis and Haley are the highest-polling candidates behind Trump, and they significantly differ in their approaches to politics.

Supporters and detractors have seen Haley as a hearkening back to the pre-Trump Republican Party, focusing on an aggressive foreign policy abroad and economic opportunity at home.

DeSantis, meanwhile, has one foot in the lane of competence and fiscal responsibility and another in the culture war, promising to fight social progressivism in a way Trump only gave lip service to.

Unfortunately, the public has seen little of this because so much time was wasted on candidates with no chance during the first three debates.

A debate between Haley and DeSantis would highlight their differences on critical issues like the extent of funding for Ukraine, their respective approaches to the culture wars, and their conflicting strategies on Big Tech. They each represent opposing theories of change that still fall under the same big tent of American conservatism, and the GOP owes it to its voters to let this discussion take place.

These discussions are pointless when constantly interrupted by candidates who dont stand a chance. Further, the finer details of these issues cannot be credibly discussed by a reality-denying Trump, nor his puerile hype man, Vivek Ramaswamy, who insinuated in the most recent debate that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky supported Nazis.

Take a lesson from the Democrats of 2020. When they faced Trump, whom vast numbers of voters saw as unfit for office, they cleared the field of low-polling candidates. They nominated a former vice president who was broadly acceptable and considered competent by most voters.

DeSantis and Haley could fit that role against President Biden in 2024.

Nevertheless, they need the requisite exposure to the electorate, which isnt happening when debates are diluted by the likes of Chris Christie, Ramaswamy, and, until recently, Scott.

Scott is a remarkable man, and his departure from the race was commendable. But his optimism didnt match the mood of most voters, Republican or otherwise.

Though they show it in different ways, DeSantis and Haley have taken a more critical approach in their campaigns, and, with their most presidential competitor out of the race, its time to center their messages as the only ones that can plausibly compete with Trump and Biden.

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Do the right thing, like Tim Scott | Guest Commentary - Santa Maria Times

In the busyness of our fast-paced world, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the cultural shifts that seem to daily sweep across society. Yet, there is a strong force that can shape the fabric of our ever-changing culture, helping us weather its ups and downs, namely, the warmth of our family circles in the heart of our own homes.

I strongly believe that we can change the culture through the seemingly ordinary acts of raising families, being neighborly, attending church, becoming self-sufficient through food production, and saving money. Practicing these simple and small changes can have a huge impact not only on our current society, but on future generations as well.

Here is the Church, Here is the Steeple

Church is a place where we can come together and worship outside of our homes. Strength comes as we gather in a house of worship with others who share the same values. In a world that seems so eager to destroy the foundations of Christianity, holding on to the traditions of our faith and values is even more important. These gatherings bring not only stability, but also peace and comfort while we fight against the cultural storms.

It's also important to have times of family worship. My familyalong with many others that I knowbelieve that family worship inside the home is just as important as going to church to worship together with like-minded believers.

Raising the Next Generation

Practicing intentionality in the daily choices we make is another way to fight the culture wars from our homes. Gathering around the dinner table as a family, sharing a meal and talking about the daydespite careers and demands of lifeis one way to do this. And when it's time for bed, reading or telling stories passed down from generation to generation is another.

Families who do these simple things actively create traditions in their home, teaching children values that will follow them as they grow and have families of their own one day. These traditions, values, and morals will go even further as those same children navigate the world and make choices as adults.

Like a Good Neighbor

Another way we can make a difference is by being more neighborly, showing hospitality to others. As a child, if someone new moved into the neighborhood, they would get a visit with some homemade cookies or a fresh-baked pie. We neighbors kept an eye on one another, and if something ever looked out of place, we were all quick to notify each other.

But nowadays, many of us are so busy that we forget to check on our neighbors. Getting back to that sense of community can make a big difference for you and the families around you. Feeling a part of something can improve more than just our livesit can also encourage others to get more involved in the community.

Living Off the Land

For us, the decision to start a homestead was an easy one. The ever-increasing prices in eggs, vegetables, and other products made the argument that it was definitely worth putting in the hard work ourselves, rather than depend on the big box stores for provisions. Our whole family has taken part every step of the way, helping with planting, irrigation systems, clearing the land, harvesting, and of course, eating!

This hard work has taught our family valuable lessons, such as the importance of owning your own land and of providing for your family. It has taught us that we dont not have to rely upon the government for every need.

In learning this self-sufficiency, we have also grown wiser in our spending habits. We make more intentional choices when it comes to shopping, and doing so increases a family culture that prioritizes stability over the whims that sometimes overcome us in stores.

Emotions change daily and can depend upon our life choices and surroundings. So take time to focus on what is real and true. Find others who have the same burden to create a culture of faith and strength, to get back to God and country. Add a tradition in your family to vote by convictions, rather than feel-good speeches.

We need strong leaders in our communities that will advance the values and traditions for which we are fighting. What better way than to start cultivating those strong leaders both in and around our homes?

Ashley Carter is a wife, mother, and grandmother living in Elmore County, where she and her husband run Farm to Table Living and Carter Farms. Ashley serves as Controller and Executive Assistant at 1819 News. She is currently working on an inspirational book of short stories. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [emailprotected].

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Ashley Carter: Changing culture through simple acts at home - 1819 News