The National Association for Multicultural Education

NAME statement to Scholastic books about their book on Trump

The National Association for Multicultural Education adds its voice to hundreds of parents, educators, and social justice and equity organizations, expressing outrage over the 2017 children’s book, President Donald Trump, by Joanne Mattern. This promotional, campaign-like publication for the 45th president and his unstable administration fails to give young readers an accurate understanding of how disruptive and unpredictable Trump has been nationally and internationally.
Authors and booksellers at the very least should respect the intelligence of young readers and their natural desire to consume as much information as possible about the U.S. government and its leaders. They eagerly absorb information from mass media and social media sources. What they learn on their own grossly contradicts the propaganda about President Trump that Mattern’s book tries to get them to swallow in classroom settings.
NAME, as a nonprofit established in 1990, promotes equity and social justice through multicultural education. The organization strives to reframe public debate and affect current and emerging policies in ways that advance social, political, economic and educational equity. From preschool through college that includes curriculum and teaching that are accurately inclusive so that students of all ages as critical thinkers can be fully informed in our democracy, which demands nothing less from them.
Mattern’s book, President Donald Trump, overwhelming fails the children and educators of the United States and our democracy.