Librarians in Watertown have been flooded with more than 2,000 emails over a book included on their suggested summer reading list for second graders. Most requested the removal of a picture book titled, “A Map for Falasteen,” saying it is antisemitic and anti-Israel.
The controversy intensified at the Watertown Free Public Library’s board of trustees meeting last week, which drew more than 100 attendees. While some echoed calls to remove the book from the list, others decried what they said was an effort to silence a valuable and authentic perspective.
The debate in Watertown comes as efforts to censor literature have increased across the nation. The literary organization PEN America reported that 10,000 books were banned from public schools in the 2023-2024 school year.
Dana Alison Levy, author and co-lead of Massachusetts Authors Against Book Bans, described the effort to remove the book from the reading list as “soft censorship,” adding that it is “part of a larger, multi-tentacled effort to suppress readership and opportunity to read.”
“A Map for Falasteen” was written by Maysa Odeh, a Palestinian author who grew up in Jordan and the United States. It follows a girl named Falasteen who is confused by a map at school that does not depict what she understands to be her family’s homeland, Palestine.
The girl’s family members take turns answering her questions. Her grandfather draws her a map with the Arabic names for places he once knew. Falasteen’s grandmother explains how she was forced to leave her home by the Israeli military. Finally, her mother makes a promise that they will one day return.
“Like many children of refugees, I grew up searching for my homeland on every map I got my hands on,” Odeh wrote in the author’s note before describing how difficult it was to ask her parents questions about their history. “Falasteen is not so timid. She asks the questions salient in every Palestinian child’s mind. These are questions that deserve answers.”
At the library board of trustees meeting, Watertown resident Debra Neiman singled out the map drawn by Falasteen’s grandfather, saying that it “intentionally denies the legitimacy and existence of the state of Israel,” and “marginalizes and erases Israel and all people connected to it, including many in the Watertown community.”
Another resident, Rachael Sack, wondered why the book was included if it “speaks of guns and tanks, and freedoms being taken away. Why would you choose a child’s book that pits Israel specifically as the oppressor?”
Other Watertown residents disagreed. “The claim that this book aims to replace Jewish Israelis or the state of Israel with Palestinians is a woeful misinterpretation,” said Abigail Yanow, noting that Palestinians in Israel face oppression of many kinds. “They deserve to live in a democracy, whether in their own state or within Israel as a bi-national state.”
“A Map for Falasteen” received positive reviews from leading trade publications and was included on multiple year-end lists in 2024, factors that are considered by librarians when curating their collections.
However, a pro-Israel group that monitors media, called the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) Education Institute, placed “A Map for Falasteen” on their “Anti-Israel Books” list. A review written by the group said the book’s “inaccurate lessons render Jews invisible and deny their humanity through an obfuscating veneer of cultural warmth and jewel-toned illustrations.”
In an interview, Odeh defended her work, including the map, which she said represents the character’s “homeland before it was occupied and ethnically cleansed.”
“[Israel] didn’t exist until 1948,” she said, referencing the year that Israel declared independence and the Arab-Israeli War began, leading to the expulsion and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. “People lived before that, and people have memories that extend beyond that.”
Odeh believes much of the criticism is rooted in anti-Palestinian sentiment and a desire to deny her people’s struggle. “Just the existence of a Palestinian voice in a public sphere for some people is unacceptable,” she said.
Public expressions of sympathy for Palestinians have occasionally become the target of protest in the Boston area since the war in Gaza began almost two years ago. A group of pro-Israel protestors disrupted a reception at a photo exhibit in the Newton Free Library that featured images from the occupied West Bank. More recently, a conversation at Brookline Booksmith with author Aymann Ismail promoting his memoir about Muslim fatherhood drew a pro-Israel protest.
The dustup in Watertown over “A Map for Falasteen” is happening as support for Israel wanes among its allies due to the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza. Since Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking 250 people hostage, the Israeli military has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The 2 million residents of Gaza, many of them children, face starvation as the Israeli government limits the flow of aid.
“That doesn’t really make a dent for some people,” Odeh observed. “Instead, they’re more concerned and would rather focus their efforts into banning a children’s book.”
Watertown library’s leadership stood by its decision to include the title in the summer reading list.
In a prepared statement, trustee chair Leanne Hammonds said, “the library affirms its commitment to intellectual freedom and the rights of all individuals to choose their own literary pursuits at their own discretion,” explaining that their list was crafted with consideration of the previous year’s “best of” lists, award winners, and reviews from established publishers, and that no one is required to read any of the books.
A few days after the meeting, Sack, one of the Watertown residents who asked that the book be removed from the list, wrote in an op-ed, “I’ve never been so disappointed in our city,” saying that Jewish residents’ attempts to be heard were miscast as a book banning campaign.
But the news of the library’s commitment sparked optimism for Odeh. “People came out to support the library’s decision to simply allow a space for a Palestinian story to exist on their suggested list,” she said. “This is not the environment that I grew up in. It makes me hopeful for the future.”
Kelly Linehan, vice president of the Massachusetts Library Association, emphasized the responsibility of libraries as stewards of information.
“The library’s role is not to endorse specific viewpoints,” she said. “But to provide access to the full spectrum of ideas, even and especially those that some may find uncomfortable.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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