Hadid and Matari pull children's book on Palestine from Penguin Random House
Alana Hadid and Jenan A. Matari have pulled their book for young readers from one of the world's largest publishers.
The title is Displacement and the Palestinian American Story. It was due in September from Crown Children's, an imprint — meaning a distinct publishing line inside a larger house — of Penguin Random House, Publishers Marketplace reported.
The book was planned as part of Race to the Truth, a series for young readers. Each volume addresses identity and history through personal storytelling. This one was to present a Palestinian American story.
Hadid is described as an activist and producer. Matari is the author of Everything Grows in Jiddo's Garden, a picture book. Together, they wrote the manuscript for Crown Children's.
The withdrawal followed months of disagreement over the text. The dispute centred on characterisations of 7 October, The Guardian reported. The authors said editors sought changes to language about Palestinian history and about the attacks. The publisher has not detailed its proposed edits in the verified reports.
Hadid and Matari ended the publishing agreement in September, according to trade coverage citing the authors. A publishing agreement is the contract that gives a publisher the right to edit, print and sell a book. Ending it before publication means the house no longer controls those rights.
Penguin Random House is the parent group. Crown Children's sits within its Crown publishing division. The division publishes commercial non-fiction and children's titles for the United States market and for wider English-language distribution.
No new publisher has been announced in the verified reports. No new publication date has been given. The manuscript remains with its authors.
For readers, this means the September release did not go ahead as listed. Library orders, school orders and pre-orders — advance purchases that help shops and publishers gauge demand — will not be fulfilled by the original publisher.
Disputes of this kind turn on edit approval. Authors typically must answer editorial queries. Publishers typically require legal and factual review. When the two sides cannot agree on wording, the contract can be terminated by mutual release or by the authors withdrawing the work.
