Here, In North Carolina, one of the titles below was on the summer reading. Since I found it after the fact, I went with our Rabbi to meet the school’s director. He suggested that the teacher dedicates an hour to have an expert on the Israel- Arab conflict to explain the issues in an unbiased way. A local college professor volunteered to come ,,,,,and yes, he is Jewish but he was fair. Amalia W.
From: Marjorie Gann Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2020 11:20 PM To: Andrea Rapp Cc: Amalia Warshenbrot; Hasafran (hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu) Subject: Re: [ha-Safran] Seeking titles of Controversial Books on Arab-IsraeliConflict I've actually contacted the Institute for Curriculum Services.. The issue here is that novels and memoirs aren't curriculum -- though they can be on book lists and make their way into the classroom. I've also spoken to the people at IMPACT-se in Israel, who evaluate curricula (e.g., within the Palestinian Authority) against UNESCO standards for teaching peace and tolerance. But again, it's written curriculum that concerns them. What I'm looking at is trade books (novels, memoirs) that make their way into classrooms without actually being mandated by the curriculum. Teachers go ahead and choose these. They are often not vetted by the people responsible for writing curriculum. For example, you can have a literature unit that includes a theme like "living through trauma," and the teacher can select the novel A Little Piece of Ground as an illustration of how young people survive the trauma of "occupation." Elizabeth Laird's novel is well-written; the problem is that how it presents Israelis is nasty and biased, but the teacher who selected that novel may know nothing about the history of the Middle East and nothing about why the IDF was policing Ramallah the way it did. The novel was selected on literary, not historical, grounds. I'm not sure how one can prevent the use of persuasive yet inaccurate literature in classrooms, but I do think that attention has to be drawn to the issue. Marjorie Here's another example. A group of very liberal rabbis put together a website called On Sun, Aug 23, 2020 at 5:32 PM Andrea Rapp <anrapp2...@yahoo.com> wrote: The Institute for Curriculum Services does wonderful work in this area. I support this organization with a check regularly, and I recommend making their acquaintance. www.icsresources.org. Aliza Craimer Elias is the Director. ANdrea Rapp, Cincinnati On Aug 23, 2020, at 4:04 PM, Amalia Warshenbrot via Hasafran <hasafran@lists.osu.edu> wrote: Marjorie, Thanks for bringing up this painful issue of bias against Israel (and Jews) that is used in schools. This issue has been brought up in the past and needs to be revisited. I hope that AJL with the Anti defamation League and the main Jewish organizations like URJ and USCJ will contact school Boards and raise awareness of it. About 15 years ago my colleague Andrea Rapp wrote an article in Reform Judaism and Hadassah created a committee for dealing with misinformation about Israel and Jews alike. Before I retired (10 years ago) parents brought to my attention two issues in textbooks one used in a privates school and one in a public school. I dealt with it with the assistance of our local Rabbi. It needs to be dealt with locally and nationally. Thanks again, Amalia Warshenbrot From: Marjorie Gann via Hasafran Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2020 11:46 AM To: Hasafran (hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu) Subject: [ha-Safran] Seeking titles of Controversial Books on Arab-IsraeliConflict Hello, Safranim, I am working on a presentation -- a spinoff from a session I gave at the 2019 AJL Conference-- on anti-Israeli propaganda in novels and memoirs for children and young adults. I am concerned that some books extremely hostile to Israel may be in use in schools. I am aware of one school in the U.S. in which Elizabeth Laird’s A Little Piece of Ground, with its toxic anti-Israel message and its demonization of Israeli soldiers, has been used for class study. I was wondering if anyone else on this list might be aware of the use of this or other anti-Israel books in schools (or in public readings for children) in the U.S. or Canada. Below you’ll find my list of some of the titles which, following detailed analysis, I’ve found to contain factual errors, distortions of history, or instances of demonization and stereotyping of Israel or Israelis. If anyone is aware of the use of any of these books, or of public controversies surrounding the use of these or any other anti-Israel books, I’d appreciate your contacting me off-list at marjoriega...@gmail.com. Thank you. Marjorie Gann Children’s and YA Novels or Memoirs which contain distortions of the Arab-Israeli conflict: Elizabeth Laird: A Little Piece of Ground (2003) Anne Laurel Carter: The Shepherd’s Granddaughter (2008) Deborah Ellis: Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak (2004) The Cat at the Wall (2014) Cathryn Clinton: A Stone in My Hand (2002) Michael Morpurgo: The Kites are Flying! (2009) Ibtisam Barakat: “Marked for Destruction,” in several anthologies Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood (2007) William Sutcliffe: The Wall: A Modern Fable (2013) Randa Abdelfattah: Where the Streets Had a Name (2008) Naomi Shihab Nye: Habibi (1997) Leila Abdelrazaq: Baddawi (2015) Anthony Robinson & Annemarie Young: Young Palestinians Speak: Living Under Occupation (2017) Golbarg Bashi: P Is for Palestine: A Palestine Alphabet Book (2018) Leanne Lieberman: The Book of Trees (2010) Pamela L. Laskin: Ronit & Jamil (2017) -- Marjorie Gann Latest Book: Speak a Word for Freedom: Women against Slavery by Janet Willen and Marjorie Gann Penguin Random House/Tundra, 2015 "An inspiring collection of those who have fought and continue to fight against the evil of slavery and an effectively solemn reminder that slavery remains a global plague." Kirkus "A powerful indictment of human rights abuses and tribute to the women who have fought them." Starred review, Publishers Weekly Five Thousand Years of Slavery, by Marjorie Gann and Janet Willen Tundra Books, 2011 A 2012 Notable Book for a Global Society, Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group, International Reading Association ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year, 2011 Silver Winner, Young Adult Nonfiction Visit our website, www.gannwillen.com, to steal a peek at both books! __ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@lists.service.ohio-state.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.service.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html Earlier Listserver: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
