Making history "come alive" is a logical goal and desire for any teacher.
However, the History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, seventh-grade history textbook has caught the critical eye of parents in California this school year.
Published by Teachers Curriculum Institute, the textbook continues to stir controversy across the western states; it is used by approximately one-third of the school districts in California.
Parents against it characterize it as an insidious form of Islamic proselytizing - definitely not sitting well with a Marin County mother who spoke to PRB News.
She said, "I filed a challenge to the book as a concerned parent, primarily because I think the public school system has no business teaching religion.
"I don't want my son to be learning about religion -- his own, or any other -- at school via distorted and corrupted textbooks, and I am outraged that there is religious proselytizing in and through public schools," she added.
Her filing in a matter of record with Marin County schools, but she requested her name not appear in print for safety reasons.
The textbook she and others are concerned about devotes approximately one-fourth of its 400 pages to Islam data that contains "way too much" overt religious content, the Marin mom said.
While other religions are cast in a negative light, Islam comes across as benevolent and uplifting, she added.
Ask many supporters of the Christian Action Network, CAN President Martin Mawyer said, and you would find a pro-Islamist theme across America appearing in numerous a textbook series.
"We are hearing from many concerned parents," Mawyer said. "This is one of our chief concerns as we work to expose the overall Islamic extremist threat."
The concern over textbooks includes the Across the Centuries series, also by TCI.
TCI founder Bert Bower insists that his company's textbook "really gives students multiple perspectives."
He goes on to add that experts and the state of California have reviewed the book and approved it for use in public schools.
The Marin mom is not wavering from her quest for a closer look at the textbook by her school board officials.
She is undaunted in her request that the books in which she finds pro-Islamist propaganda be discontinued, as another school district in Scottsdale, Arizona so decided in 2005.
In a series of emails she shared with PRB News, the pattern emerged of teachers downplaying her concerns about bias, indoctrination, and religious stories being presented as fact.
In a statement to one teacher, she said, "I realize that some of you may be under the impression that I do not want my own child learning about different cultures or religions. Frankly, nothing could be further from the truth.
"While I believe that everyone should have the right to practice (or not) their religion freely and without persecution," she added, "I also believe it is unacceptable for children to be exposed to religious proselytizing at school."
She closed one e-mail response with, "Our children should not only not be ‘influenced' -- wittingly or not -- to accept Islam (or any other religion), they should be protected from such ‘influence' in our public schools."
She has recently been asked by former California assemblyman Stephen Baldwin to write a summary of her concerns for inclusion in an upcoming book tentatively titled What Public Schools Don't Want You to Know.
– Special to PRB News by Debra Ferrell, Virginia.