PHOENIX — Jimmy Fallon, Lebron James, and Renee Barstack! OK, she may not be a big celebrity, but like the others, Barstack recently wrote a children's book.
"I teach children's literature at Glendale Community College. And my students encouraged me to write this," Barstack said.
My Pet Peeve is a picture book she says is all about a cat and a classic family struggle.
"The little girl says she wants a kitten and her dad says she can't have it," Barstack explained.
Spoiler alert! The cat does something heroic and everyone ends up happy.
It's a teaching moment for this teacher of 40 years.
"The lesson is not to make judgments quickly," she said.
But, this is where the author's story takes a turn. She self-published her book online, selling it on Amazon, where reviews are important.
One review was very upsetting.
"It said it was sexually explicit. Do not let your kids read this book," Barstack said.
The review goes on to say "This is just sick. Great book for a sex offender. Do not let your kids read this book."
The review included a fake picture and words she would never use.
"They had a picture of a little girl with her friends and the caption said "Mary invited her friends to come over and see her *****." It's a vulgar word that replaced the word "cat."
She calls the whole thing embarrassing.
"I'm a professor. I don't want my students reading things like that about a book I wrote," Barstack explained.
She says she contacted Amazon over and over for a year, telling them the review was fake and wanting it taken down.
Finally, she says she received an email from Amazon that reads in part:
We've read the review titled "SEXUALLY EXPLICIT DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS SEE THIS BOOK" for the book titled "My Pet Peeve." I understand your concerns, but the review doesn't violate our posted guidelines, so I'm unable to remove it in its current format.
We try to encourage our customers to give their honest opinions on our products while staying within our guidelines. As a retailer we are interested in cultivating a diversity of opinion on our products. Part of that is allowing our customers to air their honest thoughts on items they have received.
"I got so upset I was in tears because this had been going on for a year. I said, 'I'm going to Let Joe Know,'" Barstack said.
Ellen, a Let Joe Know/Better Business Bureau volunteer, contacted Amazon and got quick action.
"24 hours! I spent a year. You did it in 24 hours," Barstack said.
In just a day, Amazon removed the fake review.
"It gave me a whole new look at life. Wow, things can happen that are good," she said.
"My Pet Peeve" now gets five stars and Barstack says she is writing a sequel.
This time, she says she's more prepared for what she might face.
"I'm not scared anymore. If something happens again, I'm going to Let Joe Know," Barstack said with a smile.
She says she has no idea who would want to do this and is just glad it's over.
We asked Amazon why removing the review took so long and about their policing policy.
Amazon responded: "Thanks again for reaching out and bringing this matter to our attention. We do not share details about our investigations, but this matter has been sent to the appropriate teams for review. We do not have a comment for your segment at this time."
Read Amazon's posted review guidelines.
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