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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