In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammad was Read. –Alia Muhammad Baker
The one and only New York Post is touting an exclusive story today with the following headline: New York approves war-oriented reading textbooks for third-grade classrooms which, as you see above, the local CBS affiliate picked up.
The uproar is over the introduction of a book dealing with war into classrooms. Specifically targeted is Jeanette Winter’s 2005 book The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq that has been approved through the city’s new “common core” curriculum to be read in grades 3 and above.
In their endearing, though never-ending, attempt to normalize their sensational madness they provided the following examples with repeating captions from this dangerous book:
EXPLOSIVE: Illustrations from the book “The Librarian of Basra,” among the graphic war texts approved for New York third-graders.
EXPLOSIVE: Illustrations from the book “The Librarian of Basra,” among the graphic war texts approved for New York third-graders.
EXPLOSIVE: Illustrations from the book “The Librarian of Basra,” among the graphic war texts approved for New York third-graders
From what I can tell (I own a copy of the book) it is a graphic story of a courageous librarian, Alia, who refuses to abandon the library when war breaks out and does everything she can to save as many books possible.
She “watches as library workers, government workers, and soldiers abandon the library.” Only she, in the end, is left to protect the books.
In all fairness, I thought I would share a few images from the book:
and as you can see clearly displayed at the bottom of the rear panel of the dust jacket the book is for All Ages!
Unreal.
The Gothamist take: THE HORROR: NYC Schools Give Innocent Precious American Children Books About War!