Once again, it’s May, and School Library Journal appears to be facing their annual conflict about Heritage Months. In May, Jewish and Asian Americans share the month. That is absolutely appropriate. Both groups are featured, as only one prominent example, on the New York Public Library’s website. April was both Poetry Month and Arab American Heritage Month; the NYPL announced that fact every day of April.  I have written about past attempts by SLJ to avoid including Jews in their Heritage Month coverage. (link to all previous blogs about this.).

As they did last year, SLJ began presenting articles and lists about Asian American books in April, rather than waiting for the official schedule to begin. 

Some of the posts, dating to as early as the third week in April include “14 Engrossing YA Books with AANHPI Protagonists and Themes,” “6 Inspiring Nonfiction Works for Young Readers About the Asian American Experience,” “6 Kid-Friendly Middle Grade Titles with Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Protagonists,” and “Listen to These 19 Audiobooks in Honor of Southwest Asian and North African Heritage Month.”

The last article on this list, dated April 13, explains the nomenclature of the category and the list of countries encompassed by it. These include, among others, Jordan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, and Israel.  Not every country on the list is represented. Israel is not, although it is clearly a major focus of one book, Every Moment Is a Life: Gaza in the Time of Genocide. I have no issue with including this particular, or any other book on the list.  That is the editors’ choice, covered by freedom of the press and intellectual freedom. Most of the Asian American books highlighted are of high quality, artistically, historically, and as literature. In the case of Every Moment Is a Life, the glaring absence is that of any works detailing the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, which would have provided a context for readers.

As I have written before, SLJ can choose to opt out of the Heritage Month system. It would be easy to argue that consistent coverage of everyone’s culture is much more important than the potential tokenism of a month-by-month categorization. But singling out Jewish American Heritage Month as an illegitimate one is abhorrent.  I understand that SLJ may yet post some Jewish-themed books, as they did last year, late in the month.  It is notable to compare that possibility with the rich list of Asian American books that appeared as early as April, which covered a broad and inclusive number of themes, countries, and genres, as compared to, for example, one or two books exclusively about the Holocaust. (I do not agree with the proposition that there are too many books for children about the Holocaust, but they need to be part of a spectrum of topics.). Finally, if SLJ wishes to avoid discussing Israel and Palestine, they may easily choose among dozens of Jewish American children’s books excluding that subject.  Of course, many Jewish holiday books, including ones about Hanukkah, Passover, and Shavout, are predicated on Jewish presence in ancient Israel, but there are a wide range of books, both fiction and nonfiction, that are unrelated to that connection.  I am not advocating that choice, but it would be one way for SJL to circumvent what they perceive as controversy. I will update this post as SLJ continues their coverage of books in May.