IS THIS ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PICTURE BOOK UNFIT FOR KIDS?

Group claiming to create reading opportunities for kids may have turned down book because it doesn’t support affirmative action.

Los Angeles, CA - A new bilingual kids book is apparently "unfit" for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) because it shows kids that affirmative action actually hinders their success. But the author of Joey Gonzalez, Great American (WND Books, ISBN 978-0-976726-93-7, March 2008) believes he understands why Bookends, a non-profit organization that provides used childrens’ books to LAUSD inner-city school libraries, has rejected his donation.

According to author Tony Robles, "I suspect that Bookends, and by extension the LAUSD, simply doesn't like the book's message about the destructive nature of affirmative action." In Joey Gonzalez, third-grader Joey finds his dream of being a great American thwarted by his teacher's condescending attitude towards Hispanics. His mother and friends help him find the courage to stand up against the racial stereotypes designed to hold him back.

Continues the author, who grew up poor on the tough streets of Brooklyn, "Minority kids have learned that there's no reason to try and succeed in school since the specter of affirmative action inevitably taints their efforts.
It’s truly sad that an organization like Bookends, which works closely with the LA public schools and is supposed to help kids, is doing just the opposite."

"We're extremely disappointed by Marjorie Chase’s response," adds CEO Eric M. Jackson of WND Books, which published Joey Gonzalez under its Kids Ahead imprint. "When taken together with the non-response we've received from the LAUSD about a similar donation, we can only conclude that the school district just doesn’t want this anti-affirmative action, pro-American book in its libraries."

It is exactly this attitude that inspired Tony Robles to write Joey Gonzalez in the first place. Beautifully illustrated by noted artist Jim Pryor, this breakthrough book features English and Spanish translations on each page. Robles wants as many kids as possible to get the message that the American dream is alive and attainable by everyone who works to achieve it, but that pride, self-reliance and inner strength, not special preferences, are the keys to reaching that goal.

"I want kids to understand that their Spanish or African ancestry is not weakness but strength," Robles states emphatically. "Joey Gonzalez shows all children that they have the potential to be great because they have the courage and greatness of their ancestors inside of them."

If only organizations such as Bookends and LAUSD displayed the same courage!

Published June 10, 2008