Joy Masoff is a textbook author. The Virginia public schools have approved 14 of her books, all of which are published by Five Ponds Press. She is also the author of children's books, including Fire!, Emergency, Oh Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty, and Oh Yikes! History's Grossest Moments. Some of her works grew out of her work as a Cub Scout den leader and with Brownies.

In October 2010, a historian Carol Sheriff, who is a professor at the College of William and Mary

College of William and Mary

The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...

 called into question Masoff's scholarship in writing a fourth grade

Fourth grade

Fourth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fourth grade is the fourth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 9 or 10 years old, depending on their birthday. It is a part of elementary school. In some parts of the United States, fourth grade...

 textbook entitled, Our Virginia: Past and Present. Masoff wrote that thousands of slaves fought in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 on the side of the South, which is disputed by most historians. Masoff explained that Virginia state curriculum

Virginia Department of Education

The Virginia Department of Education is the state education agency of The Commonwealth of Virginia. It is headquartered in the James Monroe Building in Richmond. The department is headed by the Virginia Secretary of Education, a position that is appointed by the Governor of Virginia...

 requires that the role of African-Americans in the war be covered, so she used the internet to research the topic and found three sources. However, all three sources traced back to the Sons of Confederate Veterans

Sons of Confederate Veterans

Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...

, who do not believe that slavery caused the Civil War. Masoff said, "It's just one sentence. I don't want to ruffle any feathers, If the historians had contacted me and asked me to take it out, I would have." On October 21, the publisher of Our Virginia: Our Past and Present announced that it will distribute sticker labels that can be used to cover the disputed paragraph. Subsequently, another error was spotted regarding a claim that brown bear

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

s live in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Blue Ridge Mountains

The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...

, when in fact only black bears

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

 inhabit that area. The publisher has announced that both statements will be removed from the second edition of the book.

School system reactions to the controversy have varied. the Loudoun County, Virginia

Loudoun County, Virginia

Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...

, public schools have pulled Our Virginia: Past and Present from its classrooms, while neighboring Prince William County

Prince William County, Virginia

-National protected areas:* Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge* Manassas National Battlefield Park* Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge* Prince William Forest Park-Government and politics:...

, although not currently using the book, has it and five other Five Pond Press books under consideration.

Masoff is the mother of two and lives with her family in Waccabuc, New York

Waccabuc, New York

Waccabuc is a hamlet and lake in Lewisboro, Westchester County, New York. It was first established as a vacation home for the Mead family, for whom the core road of the hamlet, Mead Street, is named...

.