Arab textbooks are not the only ones erasing Israel from
their maps. Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, has
also eliminated the Jewish state in a book.
“Thea Stilton and the Blue Scarab Hunt,” part of the popular
Geronimo Stilton children’s series translated from Italian and published by
Scholastic in 2012, tells the story of a group of investigative journalists involved
in a treasure hunt in Egypt.
The story commences with a map of modern Egypt and its
neighboring countries.
While Sudan, Libya and Saudi Arabia appear clearly on
the map, the territory of Israel is completely covered by Jordan, painted red.
A line indicating the Israeli border with the Sinai Peninsula does appear in
the book.
Adina Golombek, a Jerusalem resident who emigrated to Israel
from Canada last year, said she was shocked to discover Israel’s absence while
reading the book with her 7-year-old son.
“I wanted to show my son where we lived in the Middle East,
but it didn’t say Israel on the map; instead it said Jordan,” Golombek told The
Times of Israel. “I showed him the problem and drew in the border of where
Israel is today.”
Founded in Pennsylvania in 1920, Scholastic has grown to
become the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books
through its book clubs, teaching resources and popular book fairs held inside
many North American schools. The company has exclusive publishing rights for
the Harry Potter series in the United States.
Kyle Good, a senior vice president for corporate
communications at Scholastic, told The Times of Israel in an email that her
company was looking into the possibility of amending the map in future editions
of the book.
“The Geronimo Stilton series is published in Italy and
Scholastic translates the books for the U.S. audience.
I’m awaiting a response
from the editorial team regarding the timing of reprints and whether this will
be corrected. I will get back to you as soon as I have their response,” Good
wrote.
A recent study carried out by Israeli and Palestinian
researchers found that 96 percent of Palestinian school textbooks did not
mention Israel by name in their maps.
Similarly, 87 percent of Israeli school
textbooks did not designate the Palestinian Territories by name.
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