Folks, I posted this before, but I do not think my posts are making it on HaSafran. So Rivkah, if you get this but do not see it on the list, could you please forward it to the list for me?
I appreciate Rivkah's comments and generally agree with what she is saying. But I have already seen people asking about this book on another listserv, called childlit, that I am an active member of. There are many book reviewers (for major reviewing journals) as well as teachers, professors, authors, publishers, and librarians on that list. There are well over 1200 subscribers. So the cat is out of the proverbial bag as soon as people on that list start discussing the book. The person who asked about it spoke about the author with the attitude that the author is well known and very respected. I think we need to be more pro-active than just ignoring this book. It's not going to go away. Perhaps someone could set up a website much like Ooyate, the Native American children's lit. site, which explains why Native Americans do not like certain books about Indians. The arguments are rational and clear, and I know many people go to that site to help them choose books that feature Native Americans for their classrooms and libraries. Couldn't we do this for books like Habibi and A Little Piece of Ground? Or does such a site already exist for Jewish books? When people on childlit start saying how wonderful and evenhanded A Little Piece of Ground is (and I feel certain they will), it would be good for me to have somewhere to send them. I can't fight this battle alone on childlit. I know from experience that I will be shouted down when I present a Jewish perspective on certain books. Thanks, June Cummins Department of English San Diego State University _______________________________________________________ June Cummins, Assistant Professor Department of English and Comparative Literature San Diego State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
