It would be wonderful if the publisher/distributor would do that—I believe that that was suggested in the UK (where much of the controversy seems to have originated), but there, as far as I am aware, the publisher withdrew the book from sale on its website instead of issuing a correction.
If anyone else has more up-to-date information, I hope that they'll share. All best, Erika On Fri, Mar 4, 2022 at 11:46 AM <kpeter3...@aol.com> wrote: > Another quick postscript--as part of their response to me, my public > library said that they would be willing to purchase additional copies of > future, corrected (like the map) editions. I suggested that it would be > helpful if they would contact the book's publisher/distributor to that > effect and to please let me know if they had. So far I haven't heard.... > > Judy > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Erika Dreifus <edrei...@gmail.com> > To: Amalia Warshenbrot <amalia...@att.net> > Cc: kpeter3...@aol.com; Hasafran <Hasafran@lists.osu.edu> > Sent: Fri, Mar 4, 2022 11:26 am > Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Controversial book > > A quick postscript to Amalia's message: I have also reached out, multiple > times, to the book's U.S. distributor (Simon & Schuster). They have not > answered any of my emails. > > Best, > Erika > > On Fri, Mar 4, 2022 at 11:11 AM Amalia Warshenbrot via Hasafran < > hasafran@lists.osu.edu> wrote: > > Marcia, > Judy did all she can do. The issue was brought to my attention by a > children book author and I’m sure that she will email soon. > The book troubles me for more than one reason, how come even Golda Meir or > women from the Bible are not mentioned as AMAZING WOMEN OF THE MIDDLE EAST. > This is the third book with a map with no mention of the State if Israel > and we can always contact the publisher. > Having said that we, as a Jewish organization, must be careful when we > object to a book about Muslim women. In addition librarians can’t censor > books. > Amazon welcomes reviews. Individual librarians are welcome to post a > personal review on their website. > Thanks for bringing it to HaSafran subscribers, > Amalia W. > > Sent from my iPad > > On Mar 4, 2022, at 8:48 AM, Judy Petersen via Hasafran < > hasafran@lists.osu.edu> wrote: > > > Hi Marcia, > I asked my local public library to review the book. They agreed it > was biased, but would not pull it from their collection. Instead, they > said they would not feature it in any way (such as on a "book of the month" > display by the entrance) so as not to appear to endorse it. Instead, they > would just leave it on the shelf. > I also brought the book to the attention of my local school > district. Only a couple of schools have it in their libraries, and I just > wanted to make the district administration and Diversity Liaison aware that > it is a biased book. We had a discussion about while we may value diversity > and "differing perspectives" we have to be careful that those perspectives > don't also introduce bias (or in this case, erasure of Jews/Israel from the > Middle East). And also that we can't always go by reviews--the book got a > very positive review from the School Library Journal, which many schools > use to help make purchasing decisions. The SLJ even mentioned it as a > positive that the book included a "map of Palestine", and that the book was > recommended!! So they got the idea (I think/hope!) that multiple sources > need to be checked prior to introducing a book into a collection. > > Judy Petersen > Library Director > Congregation Har Shalom > Fort Collins, CO > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Marcia Goldstein via Hasafran <hasafran@lists.osu.edu> > To: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu > Sent: Thu, Mar 3, 2022 1:34 pm > Subject: [ha-Safran] Controversial book > > In a previous post, there was mention of the map in the book "Amazing > Women of the Middle East" eliminating Israel (the area is labeled as > Palestine). Have any communities contacted their local libraries about this > book? If so, have any libraries removed it from their collection? > Incidentally, Amazon is selling the book, with half of the reviews giving > it one star for the inaccuracy portrayed by the map. > > Marcia Goldstein > Maurer Jewish Community Library > Indianapolis > 317-509-6783 > __ > >
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