Roald Dahl's books reworked to remove sensitive words: Was it the right call?

The reworked editions of British novelist Roald Dahl's children's books have been heavily criticised. The changes were made after publisher Puffin considered some of Dahl's words and phrases to be inappropriate. 

According to Channel News Asia, booker prize-winning author Salman Rushdie was one of those who responded in outrage to the reworked books. As seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Rushdie said in a tweet: "Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed." 

As part of the changes, Puffin recruited sensitivity readers to rework sections of Dahl’s works to make sure that the books can continue to be enjoyed by all today, according to The Straits Times. Consequently, hundreds of changes were made across his books. 

Don't miss: Netflix beefs up local content, adapts Mr. Midnight books SG folks grew up with

For example, the words "fat" and "ugly" were targeted and have been removed from the books in the new editions. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for example, the character, Augustus Gloop, is now described as "enormous" and The Twits' character, Mrs Twit, is now described as "beastly" instead of "ugly and beastly". 

In addition to specific word changes, gender-neutral expressions have been added. Now, the Oompa Loompas, workers who work in the chocolate factory, are labelled as "small people" instead of "small men" while James and the Giant Peach's cloud-men are called cloud-people. 

Furthermore, passages not written by the novelist have also been included, such as in The Witches, according to ST. A passage about witches who wear wigs and are bald has a new line included that reads: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”

According to ST, the Roald Dahl Story Company said, “it’s not unusual to review the language” when there is a new edition and any amends were “small and carefully considered”.

The amends were made in collaboration with Inclusive Minds, a collective for readers who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children's literature.

On a separate note, Netflix has adapted children’s horror book series Mr. Midnight into a series which premiered on 24 October 2022. Netflix partnered with a local production company, Beach House Pictures, to produce the series. It stars Singaporean actress Chen Yixin, Malaysian actor Idan Aedan and Australian actor Caleb Monk and actress Nikki Dekker. 

Related articles: 
Netflix scoops up rights to Roald Dahl's catalogue
Loewe and local artist partner up to bring Howl's Moving Castle to life with wall mural
MUJI is hosting NLB books to create 'Wall of Haikus'
Analysis: Is Microsoft sowing Discord to its books to level up gaming ambitions?