MATTAPOISETT — The Mattapoisett Museum and the Mattapoisett Free Public Library will co-host Aquinnah Wampanoag scholar, author, and historian Linda Coombs on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Coombs will discuss her book “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story,” the process of writing it, and why it is important to teach various perspectives of American history, a news release said.

“Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” was published in September 2023 as one of five titles in Penguin Random House’s “Race to the Truth” series of similarly themed stories intended for middle grades. Other books in the series include “Slavery and the African American Story” by Patricia Williams Dockery and “This Land” by Ashley Fairbanks. 

The non-fiction book is aimed at educating seventh graders about the Wampanoag perspective of the European colonization of New England, the release said.

The book was recently at the center of a controversy in East Texas, when a parental school board reclassified it as fiction and moved the book from the children's section to the adult section of the library.

Coombs will talk about her reaction to the decision to reclassify her book as fiction and the international backlash it caused, the release said.

“The outrage over the decision gained international news coverage” and caused a Texas court to order the book be returned to its “rightful place” on non-fiction shelves, according to the release. 

“To claim this book is fiction dismisses our perspective and history,” said a statement from Debbie Reese, founder of American Indians in Children’s Literature. “Books like “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” are important to Native kids because they affirm our existence as Native people in the present day. But they’re also for non-Native kids, because those kids are being shaped by the information in books. This country is better off if we all know history in a more informed way.”

Coombs will be signing and selling copies of part of the Race to the Truth series.