Chil­dren’s

We Vis­it Israel

Laya Saul
  • Review
By – April 24, 2012
Mitchell Lane Pub­lish­ers’ web­site states that its goal is to present qual­i­ty non­fic­tion through use of breezy nar­ra­tives” which will keep kids read­ing who don’t nor­mal­ly like to read and also help to strength­en their read­ing skills. Meant as a text­book for stu­dents in grades 4 – 7, We Vis­it Israel is marred by errors and some unfor­tu­nate word­ing. The book is cer­tain­ly writ­ten in a breezy style, start­ing with the begin­ning, where the read­er is told This sto­ry is based on the author’s years of liv­ing in Israel and on her exten­sive research, which she believes to be accu­rate.” This is not a sto­ry; it is a non­fic­tion book that dis­cuss­es Israel’s his­to­ry, its geog­ra­phy, the Israeli peo­ple, their cul­ture, and their gov­ern­ment. Like the oth­ers in the Your Land and My Land series, it includes full-col­or pho­tos, maps, a glos­sary, an index, and a bib­li­og­ra­phy of works con­sult­ed, as well as an activ­i­ty (a recipe for mak­ing haman­taschen) and a craft (mak­ing a ham­sa). It also includes many errors. Baby­lo­ni­ans destroyed the Tem­ple in Jerusalem cen­turies before the Greek con­querors, yet the book states in two places that it was destroyed by the Assyr­i­an Greeks. The Book of Esther is said to be in the Tal­mud, rather than in the Bible. In the sec­tion titled Famous Israelis” Saul writes that Jesus of Nazareth may be the most famous Jew born in Israel,” strange­ly lump­ing him togeth­er with Gol­da Meir, Itzhak Perl­man, and Israeli-born actress, Natal­ie Port­man. 

It is admirable that the author writes with no bias toward either the Jews or the Arabs. How­ev­er, the many mis­takes need to be cor­rect­ed and, because of the errors list­ed, We Vis­it Israel is not recommended.
Andrea David­son is the librar­i­an of The Tem­ple-Tifer­eth Israel in Beach­wood, Ohio. She holds an M.L.S. from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Michi­gan and is a for­mer mem­ber of the Syd­ney Tay­lor Book Awards Com­mit­tee. She enjoys try­ing out the books she reviews on the kids at the Tem­ple and on her grandchildren.

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