It had happened to me before, and sadly, it will happen again. A few hours later, I received an email from the president of the parents’ association informing me my visit was canceled. The principal would only speak on the phone. I asked for an explanation and requested that the principal email me. The next day, the parents’ association informed me I wasn’t permitted to mention A High Five for Glenn Burke to the fourth graders. To say I was thrilled to have my book featured in the Sunday Book Review is the understatement of the year. On Sunday May 10th, A High Five for Glenn Burke was reviewed in the print edition of the New York Times. They’re the presentations I’ve shared with elementary school kids dozens and dozens of times around the country. On Friday May 8th, the parents’ association informed me that the principal wanted to see the presentations I’d be sharing with the students. The school circled back after the scheduled date and said they wanted to convert my in-person visit into a virtual one. I was supposed to visit the elementary school back in March, but the visit was canceled because of COVID-19. I didn’t because it wouldn’t have been in the best interest of the kids living in that community. I didn’t even though I said I would the next time this happened. I wanted to post an open letter to the community because they needed to know that decisions were being made that weren’t in the best interest of their kids.īut I didn’t. I wanted to put everyone on blast and name names - the principal, the superintendent, the members of the parents’ association. When I found out the school canceled my visit, I was crushed. It’s a novel about acceptance and living one’s authentic life. Realizing he’s gay, the boy does a school report on Glenn Burke, the gay Major League Baseball player who was erased from sports history because of who he was. The book is about a boy who loves baseball, karaoke, and the movie The Sandlot. They didn’t want their fourth graders to know about it because they feared a few loud parents in their community.

A school canceled my virtual author visit because they didn’t want their fourth graders to know about my middle grade novel A High Five for Glenn Burke.

A high five for glenn burke