Roald Dahl's books got some new edits

Songs aren’t the only content getting remixed these days – books just rang the doorbell to join the party. New editions of children’s books written by the late UK author Roald Dahl are being edited to remove words that could be deemed offensive to some readers, The Telegraph first reported last week.

📚 Background: The Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) controls the rights to all of Roald Dahl’s written works, which include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Witches, James and the Giant Peach, The Twits, and Matilda, among others. And like the jock in every ‘80s teen movie Dahl’s books are quite popular, collectively selling more than 200 million copies to-date.

But recently, the author’s catalog was reviewed by the RDSC and UK publisher Puffin Books – and the pair ultimately decided to alter many previous passages that reference topics like weight, mental health, gender, or race to ensure the “wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.”

Some notable examples:

• Every instance of the word “fat” or “ugly” has been removed across all of Dahl’s books. Ditto goes for most descriptions of objects or people using the words “black” or “white,” as well as passages calling people with mental illness “mad” or “crazy.”
• Many references to gender have also been removed or altered. Examples include swapping out phrases like “mothers and fathers” for “parents,” removing a passage about how boys’ dreams are different from girls’, and saying a supernatural female’s alter-ego may be working as a “top scientist or running a business” instead of as a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman.”

🗣️ The public reacts: While there are those who applaud the changes, several high-profile authors have denounced them as unwarranted and potentially dangerous, including Salman Rushdie, Philip Pullman, and a community of 7,500 US writers known as PEN America.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the Roald Dahl Company editing the deceased author’s works to remove some words that could be deemed offensive?

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