Chicken Scratch Put to the Test

One publisher was forced to take a costly stand against LGBT+ ideology in their own company

One of the missions we have here at RB4K is to not only expose evils lurking in children’s literature but also show you the light coming out of the children’s literature space. One of our first partners, when we started our Instagram account a year ago, was Chicken Scratch Books. I got to know the senior editor and publisher, Kiri Jorgensen, over a long weekend working shoulder-to-shoulder at a homeschool conference in Orlando, Florida. I was selling Heroes of Liberty, and in the booth next to us, she was selling Chicken Scratch’s wares. My oldest daughter struck up a friendship with Kiri and her son and we went home with a suitcase full of her books.

I already knew Kiri a bit because she was the only person working in children’s literature who would talk to me on the record for my book Stolen Youth. The tagline for Chicken Scratch is “Our only agenda is good literature.” She created Chicken Scratch as a safe alternative for parents looking for quality modern children’s literature.

In my book, I quote Jorgensen explaining, “One list I use in my presentations is the [Publisher’s Weekly] ‘2021 Best Books for a Summer Read’ and if you go through the dozen books they’re listing, it’s pretty eye-opening; the books they say are the best books of the year and the books that are going to win the awards and the books that are being highlighted. Most of them bring in some sort of environmental issue or sexuality or racism. Most of the books bring in all of those agendas…”

When we first launched this Substack, I invited Jorgensen to contribute (that post is excellent, and forthcoming in the near future!).

We were just about to hit publish when Chicken Scratch made this announcement,

Now we don’t want to be accused of stereotyping, but the bow-tie and rainbow-haired headshot set off a few alarm bells, and Rachel went digging and immediately saw another very recent post from the author, Kristiana Sfirlea:

When we brought it to the attention of Jorgensen, she informed us several hours later that she had terminated her contract with Sfirlea because of the Pride post. Jorgensen then shared with me what transpired,

I always discuss our stance on traditional values and no social agendas with my authors before signing them. I never had even an inkling that this would be a problem with Kristiana. But she has now publicly applied the LGBTQ designation to her characters, so I can no longer have her book as part of our publishing house.

I despise cancel culture, but promoting the LGBTQ agenda in kidlit is completely unacceptable. It is one of the big reasons I started Chicken Scratch Books. I have already notified Kristiana that her contract has been terminated and why. Her products are being removed from our website and all marketing materials and social media. We'll have to absorb the financial blow, as we have a considerable investment in her work. 

This is true dedication Jorgensen’s mission at Chicken Scratch; an admirable and difficult decision, but one that she had to make in order to stay true to customers who trust that nothing they buy from Chicken Scratch will have an alternative agenda.

In response to the termination, on her Instagram, Sfirlea shared,

Kristiana Sfirlea

Kristiana Sfirlea on Instagram: “It hurts me to write this post. I love sharing the positive things in my writing world, but sometimes it’s just as important to share the negative.
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As you know, Monster Ivy (who is the BEST PUBLISHER EVER, btw -- this has nothing to do with them) and I recently teamed up with another publisher to create curriculum courses for LEGEND OF THE STORM SNEEZER. I was SO excited about it. With this publisher’s connections to the homeschool community, my book and new curriculum were going to reach a big, brand-new audience.
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Until two days ago when I suddenly received a termination of our contract.
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This is the part that hurts. I hate discrimination in ALL its forms, but when it’s against my personal community, it’s like a knife to the heart. .
The publisher terminated our contract because Rose and Marek are aromantic and asexual. .
My babies, the patron saints of friendship, were called a “secret social agenda” because they love platonically. I can’t fathom it. I can’t wrap my head around it. Why are they being hated for this? Why am I and my community hated for this? Why does aphobia exist?
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Like all forms of discrimination, I don’t have a good answer. All I can do is take this opportunity to remind everyone to be kind and to know that I CANNOT and WILL NOT stand for any intolerance or hate in my community. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my God loves everyone, and my books and socials are safe spaces. I will not be associated with anyone who jeapordizes that.
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If I lose followers (I have), financial opportunities (I have), or popularity (I have), then so be it. It is always, ALWAYS more important to stand for what’s right.
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My heart is still broken, but I’m grateful for the people who have rallied around me. You give the world a better name.
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#legendofthestormsneezer #kristianasfirlea #authorsofinstagram #authorlife #writersofinstagram #writerslife #asexual #asexualpride #aromantic #aromanticpride #aromanticasexual #aroace #aro #ace #aphobia #jesuslovesyou #LGBTQIA #antidiscrimination #safespace”

June 15, 2023

In response to Sfirlea’s accusations, Jorgensen shared her perspective,

“Anytime any adult takes a symbol, a label… of their own human sexuality and applies it to a child, that is child sexualization. As a publisher of children’s novels, I will never allow the sexualization of children.”

I’ll put it more bluntly: Declining to bankroll a creative venture that sexualizes children it is not discrimination.

Sfirlea proudly assigned a sexual identity to her main characters in a children’s book and now posits anyone who dares to object, even if they are paying her, is by default hateful.

Nobody cares about your weird, made-up sexual identity. “Why does aphobia exist?” Do they hear themselves?

Sfirlea chose to make sexual identity central to her art, and any rejection of the premise that such content is inappropriate for children is met with accusations of discrimination. Sfirlea has her choice of literally almost any other children’s book publisher; last week Rachel broke the story here that even a Christian publisher proudly markets LGBT+ content. Sfirlea isn’t entitled to Jorgensen’s money or the trust that the readers of Chicken Scratch have placed in their content.

While Jorgensen’s decision to part ways with Sfirlea is painful in the short term with the financial loss of the terminated contract, in the long run it’s the only way Chicken Scratch can remain trustworthy to its audience, who care more about a good story than an “aromantic” character.