Letters

Attack on America

As the Editor of Enslow's American Disasters series, I feel compelled to respond to your recent review of our title Attack on America (Enslow, 2002; January 2003, p. 160). First, I'd like to address the book's graphic content. Ultimately, my chief priority is to create a book that is educational. To this end, I strive to cover a given event as completely, accurately, and objectively as possible. For some of these titles, it is nearly impossible to do this without being explicit. These events are violent and, yes, even gruesome at times, but if we try to downplay these aspects, we risk minimizing the event in question. I feel this would be a far worse error than being too graphic in our presentation.

When the reviewer states that we failed to mention the more "multifaceted" issues involved, I find myself somewhat perplexed, since I don't see what aspect of the story was left neglected. My impression is that the reviewer's main problem with the book, really, is that she disliked the general tone of the narrative, which she characterized as "judgmental." I disagree with this characterization. Just because at one point the text describes the terrorists' actions as being hateful and "senseless," I don't feel this is being judgmental or editorializing. The men who hijacked those two planes did not bear a particular grudge against any person or group of people in the World Trade Center that day. In this regard, the events of 9/11 are indeed "senseless." And is it truly "simplistic" or "irresponsible" to say that when a man flies a jet into a building, killing thousands of unknowing innocents, as well as himself, that he is hateful for doing so? Have we really become that politically correct?

I feel the book accomplishes its goal of accurately capturing the events of the day. I must respectfully disagree with your reviewer's characterization of the book as simplistic and judgmental.
--David Torsiello Editor Enslow Publishers Berkeley Heights, NJ

Our reviewer responds

I have read and re-read dozens of books dealing with various aspects of the events of September 11th and I found the combination of content, tone, and design of Mary Gow's Attack on America to be unnecessarily sensational. Why the torn, red borders on the chapter headings? Why are selected words highlighted in red in the text? Why choose headings like "More Than Any of Us Can Bear?" or "He's Not Going to Land." Obviously, the day was a tragedy of epic proportions. A book about it, however, should contribute to understanding, not overwhelm or quicken pulses. The basic events are terrifying enough.

The issues surrounding the day are multifaceted, and responsible nonfiction offers context, perspective, and some measure of objectivity. To reduce the motive for the attack to "senseless" radicalism alone is to ignore the political and economic complexities that underlie our cultural differences. It's hard to escape the bias or judgment when the opening chapter concludes: "What could have caused this? Could it have been a terrible accident? Or was it the result of something more sinister?" As much as this day may have seemed like a horror movie, it wasn't. As children and families seek to process the events and understand what led up to them, libraries will want to have materials that go beyond sound bites and surface emotions to probe underlying problems and possible solutions.
--Wendy Lukehart Coordinator of Children's and Young Adult Collections District of Columbia Public Library Washington, DC

A chart that appeared in my article "Winning the Grant Game " (March 2003, pp. 52–55) incorrectly identified the U.S. Department of Education as the source of the data.

Figures in this chart, entitled "A State-by-State Account of Federal Funding for 2002," were compiled from several sources. All individual grant amounts were transcribed from the Department of Education Web site. Some student enrollments and numbers of schools in individual districts came from the Web site, others from Patterson's Guide to Elementary Education, and the remainder from telephone interviews with grant recipients who gave us permission to quote them.

Since the DOE considers specific information in proposals to be proprietary to the grantee, any information about actual awards was included with the permission of the award winner. Judith McGowan New York, NY

A wrong URL appeared in Patrick Jones's article "To the Teen Core" (March 2003, p. 49). The correct address for YALSA's Teen Hoopla site is www.ala.org/teenhoopla, however, the site has been discontinued and is no longer available.