A book on Palestine for young readers was pulled at Penguin Random House just before its scheduled release, following editorial disputes between the publisher and the book’s Palestinian American authors over their account of Palestinian history.
asserted
book → pull → history
In November 2024, Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House, signed the book deal with Alana Hadid, a philanthropist, activist and older sister of models Bella and Gigi, and Jenan Matari, an author and communications strategist.
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Books → sign → models
The book was promoted for release in September this year.
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book → promote → September
The authors, both influential social media commentators, drafted a manuscript about the history of Palestine, Israeli occupation, Palestinian resistance, and the diaspora, interwoven with references to their own families’ stories of displacement.
But the writers withdrew their book after objecting to edits by Random House that they said sanitized and misrepresented their views, and which they said were introduced after they thought the book had been finalized.
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book → draft → views
A Random House spokesperson said the process “followed our standard bookmaking procedures”, and that the publisher ultimately supported the authors’ decision to pull the book.
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publisher → say → book
The books aimed to provide the “true story of American history”, written by members of marginalized groups telling the histories of their peoples.
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books → aim → peoples
A co-creator of the project said she objected to the treatment of Displacement and would not be pursuing future installments in the series with the publisher.
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she → say → publisher
“It became clear that Penguin was never actually going to allow us just to write the book we wanted to write,” said Hadid.
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Hadid → become → book
“It says a lot that they’re willing to tank an entire very powerful series that helps children learn history, just because of one book about Palestine.”
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children → say → Palestine
According to Hadid and Matari, who provided the Guardian with the draft manuscript and email excerpts of their communications with Random House, the authors and the publisher engaged in months of disagreements about language in the book, including a passage on the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks in southern Israel.
uncertain
who → accord → Israel
The writers’ manuscript argued that people under “colonial domination” have the “right to resist”, but Random House urged them to incorporate arguments that the attacks that day violated international law.
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attacks → argue → law
At an impasse, the authors withdrew their book in early September.
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authors → withdraw → September
The authors now plan to release it through Interlink Books, a Palestinian-owned US publisher.
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authors → plan → Books
Random House Children’s Books has other forthcoming books on Palestine, the spokesperson said, writing: “We remain committed to bringing the Palestinian perspective to young readers.”
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We → have → readers
The spokesperson also said another Race to the Truth book remained on track for 2028 publication.
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book → say → publication
The dispute over the book comes amid disproportionate scrutiny and censorship of work by and on behalf of Palestinians.
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dispute → come → Palestinians
The conflict also laid bare the wide gap between narratives around 7 October, one that could not be bridged in a book to be distributed by a mainstream publisher.
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that → lay → publisher
“I believe it was a revolutionary book, which is why it was under so much scrutiny,” Matari said.
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Matari → believe → scrutiny
“They continued to try to sanitize our history because they didn’t want to make certain communities uncomfortable.
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communities → continue → history
But decolonial history is supposed to make you uncomfortable.”
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you → suppose → ?
‘No greater story to tell’
The Race to the Truth series was conceived by Saira Rao and Regina Jackson, founders of Race2Dinner, a program launched in 2019 to facilitate conversations with white women about racism.
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series → tell → racism
In 2020, Rao and Jackson sold a book called White Women to Penguin Random House, which became a bestseller, then in 2021 sold the Race to the Truth children’s series to the publishing house.
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which → sell → house
Random House has since published books in the series on slavery, the colonization of the Wampanoag people, the exclusion of Chinese Americans, Mexican American history, and the forced assimilation of Indigenous youth.
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House → publish → youth
As the series progressed, Rao felt it was urgent to publish a Palestine installment: “There’s no greater story to tell right now.
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it → progress → installment
Palestine actually tells a story of all genocides, of all settler colonial violence.”
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Palestine → tell → violence
After Random House greenlit the idea in summer of 2024, Rao brought on Matari and Hadid.
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Rao → greenlit → Matari
The authors submitted their first draft of Displacement in July 2025.
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authors → submit → July
In the introduction, they wrote that the Palestinian story had long been missing from classrooms.
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story → write → classrooms
“The deliberate erasure of our history has left generations of Palestinians struggling to explain not only where we come from but why nearly half of us are scattered around the world, including – as in our cases – in the United States,” the intro said.
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intro → leave → States
The book discussed the landscape and history of Palestine; the rise of Zionism; the Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948 when more than 700,000 Palestinian people were expelled from their homes; their analysis of Israel as a “settler colony”; the relationship between the US and Israel; and life for Palestinians living under military occupation.
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people → discuss → occupation
They also documented their family histories.
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They → document → histories
Hadid’s grandparents, they wrote, were expelled from Safed days after her father was born, becoming refugees in Syria.
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father → write → Syria
And relatives of Matari and her husband were displaced from Deir Yassin and Ein Karem after an April 1948 massacre claimed the lives of more than 100 Palestinians.
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massacre → displace → Palestinians
“I just wanted children to see us as humans,” Hadid said.
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Hadid → want → humans
Disputes about 7 October
Tensions arose on the project in June 2026 when, according to the authors, the book was distributed to reviewers and made available for preorder before Random House had shared a final version with the writers.
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House → arise → writers
When the authors received a copy, they said it included changes to a passage about 7 October made by Random House without their knowledge.
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it → receive → knowledge
In a chapter called The International Right to Armed Resistance, the authors cited a UN general assembly resolution that said people under colonial domination are entitled to “the right to self-determination” and to restore that right “by any means at their disposal”.
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people → call → disposal
The chapter also noted Hamas’s use of prisoner exchanges to free thousands of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel they called “effectively hostages of the state”.
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they → note → state
Referring to the 2011 exchange of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for more than 1,000 prisoners, they wrote: “This exchange was one of the most famous and showed Palestinians that resistance could bring real results.”
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resistance → refer → results
On 7 October, the manuscript continued, Hamas fighters “crossed into Israel in a coordinated assault”.
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fighters → continue → assault
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
