Children are revolting over censoring Roald Dahl, says author

Sir Alexander McCall Smith has criticised the practice of censoring classic children’s books to cater for the sensitivities of modern audiences.
The author said children still loved the original texts from writers such as Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton and could spot when they were presented with a “sanitised world view”.
The Roald Dahl Story Company and Puffin Books conducted a review of Dahl’s classics that led to the removal or rewriting of content deemed offensive, including references to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race.
Blyton has been criticised for racism and xenophobia in her novels, which have been the subject of “sensitive text revisions”.
McCall Smith, 76, best known for his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books, said it was tempting for parents to self-censor books when reading aloud to their children.
However, the Edinburgh-based novelist, who has also written several books for children, said he had chosen to read unedited versions of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven books to his grandchildren, who “love” them.
In his column for Scottish Field magazine, he said: “Reading out loud to attentive children is one of life’s undoubted pleasures, even if at times it can be demanding.
“Children know if you skip anything, whether out of desire to get to the end more quickly, or because you decide that a passage is too out of step with the zeitgeist.
“Once they spot the censorship, they are not slow to protest.
“There is a lot to feel uncomfortable about in Enid Blyton. The children in the books are often unkind, embodying the unattractive attitudes of bourgeois Surrey circa 1952.
“Exclusivity lies at the heart of the Secret Seven’s appeal. The real point here is somebody is excluded, which makes membership of the band seem infinitely more precious.
“The children in the Blyton books love cutting others out from the fun. They are also not slow to disparage those who do not have their advantages.
“Occasionally disadvantaged children crop up in these stories, but they are very much the other, barely tolerated by the Secret Seven or their associates.”
He added that despite these issues, his grandchildren adored the books and he suggested “children can see through a sanitised world view”.
“They love unbowdlerised Roald Dahl. They love the nasty put-downs of the Secret Seven,” he added.
“Children are quintessentially unreconstructed, which is why they still adore these hoary Secret Seven books.
“In fact children, in spite of the best efforts of so many enlightened modern parents, remain doggedly socially conservative, not to say reactionary.
“That may conceal a warning for those who would reduce the voting age to 16. Don’t imagine that teenagers will make enlightened, progressive choices.”
Last year Puffin announced the release of the Roald Dahl Classic Collection “to keep the author’s classic texts in print”, following criticism of recent editing of his work to remove potentially offensive language.
The publisher said readers would be free to choose which version of Dahl’s stories they preferred.