A Scholastic children’s book about President Trump is ruffling the feathers of many leftist parents, authors, and teachers who say the book is “dangerous” to children, according to the progressive news site ThinkProgress.
Although the 32-page children’s book titled “President Donald Trump” is aimed at six and seven-year-olds in first and second grade, ThinkProgress called the children’s book a piece of “pro-Trump propaganda.”
The progressive website highlighted several accounts from left-wingers who criticized the book for not calling out the president’s “racism” and “xenophobia.”
The book “ignores acts of resistance, and, crucially, excludes any reference to the words and deeds of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and misogyny that have defined Trump’s campaign and presidency,” according to a book review titled “Scholastic Tells Children: Trump is Great” written for the social justice website Teaching for Change.
Other progressives launched a campaign on social media called #StepUpScholastic, urging the company to publish books affirming “the identity, history, and lives of ALL children in our schools.”
Many progressives involved with the campaign particularly took issue with the following passage from the book:
On November 8, 2016, Americans voted for president. The race was close, but Trump won. Many people were happy. … They looked forward to a brand-new government. They hoped for a stronger country.
Several left-wing authors also weighed in on the book:
But the book’s author, Joanne Mattern, did not see the book as causing harm to children.
Mattern told the New York Times last year that she intended to write about President Trump in an “unbiased” manner while providing accurate context. Mattern wrote two children’s books about Trump.
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