Scholastic, a publisher of children’s books, finally pulled an ill-conceived book that showed George Washington’s slave happily preparing a cake for the first President.
The book, A Birthday Cake for George Washington by Ramin Ganeshram and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton, was widely criticised for its upbeat illustrations of Washington’s chef, a slave named Hercules, and the chef’s daughter, Delia. Many have suggested that the book provides a glossy look at American slavery and the book has hundreds of one-star reviews on Amazon.
Amazingly, the Amazon listing highlights a review by Kiera Parrott of the School Library Journal. She called the book, “A troubling depiction of American slavery,” later adding that one illustration shows a “strangely cheerful and exuberant scene reminiscent of a Disney film.”
Initially, Scholastic stood by the book and its author, referring to Ganeshram’s blog post in a Jan. 15 statement. In her blog post, Ganeshram said that the book came about after years of research into Hercules’ life and she tried to show Hercules’ great skills in the kitchen.
“Yet, the discussion and criticism of the book has, instead, been focused on the literal face value of the characters,” Ganeshram wrote. “How could they smile? How could they be anything but unrelentingly miserable? How could they be proud to bake a cake for George Washington? The answers to those questions are complex because human nature is complex.”
The Associated Press notes that copies of A Birthday Cake do include notes about Hercules’ escape that attempt to provide historical context. But critics still thought that this information should have been included in the main story, not in the back of the book.
On Sunday, Scholastic finally decided to pull the book and will accept returns. The statement continues:
“While we have great respect for the integrity and scholarship of the author, illustrator, and editor, we believe that, without more historical background on the evils of slavery than this book for younger children can provide, the book may give a false impression of the reality of the lives of slaves and therefore should be withdrawn.
“Scholastic has a long history of explaining complex and controversial issues to children at all ages and grade levels. We do not believe this title meets the standards of appropriate presentation of information to younger children, despite the positive intentions and beliefs of the author, editor, and illustrator.”