A book publisher has revised new editions of the bestselling author Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s books by removing offensive language and adding “inclusive” terms.
Puffin, the publisher of Dahl’s classic works, including “Matilda,” “James and the Giant Peach,” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” has edited the author’s classic works.
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“The wonderful words of Roald Dahl can transport you to different worlds and introduce you to the most marvelous characters. This book was written many years ago, and so we regularly review the language to ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today,” the publisher wrote on the copyright page of the latest U.K. edition of the author’s books.
Puffin and the Roald Dahl Story Company made the latest changes in conjunction with a sensitivity reader group called “Inclusive Minds.” The group describes themselves as a “collective for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children’s literature.”
The publisher reportedly altered hundreds of words and meanings in Dahl’s best-loved books.
“Language related to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race has been cut and rewritten. Remember the Cloud-Men in James and the Giant Peach? They are now the Cloud-People. The Small Foxes in Fantastic Mr Fox are now female. In Matilda, a mention of Rudyard Kipling has been cut and Jane Austen added. It’s Roald Dahl, but different,” The Telegraph reported.
Augustus Gloop, the fat character featured in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” is now described as “enormous.” The character of Miss Sponge in “James and the Giant Peach” is no longer described as “the fat one.”
The new edition of Dahl’s 1983 book “Witches,” the editors removed the word “fat” from a “fat little brown mouse” to just a “little brown mouse” and changed “Chambermaid” to “cleaner.” Editors made 59 changes to the book.
Mrs. Trunchbull’s “great horsey face” in the book “Matilda” is now described as just “face.” The character was once described as a “most formidable female,” but is now a “most formidable woman”.
In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Oompa Loompas went from “small men” to “small people” and the descriptions of them being “tiny,” “titchy,” or “no higher than my knee” have been erased.
In the book “James and the Giant Peach,” the phrase “boys and girls” has been turned into “children”.
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The language revisions to Dahl’s books started in 2020 in partnership with Inclusive Minds, just before Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company in 2021.
As the “sensitivity readings” trend grew in recent years, the Dahl family issued an apology in 2020 in response to the criticism of the writings of the late author, who died in 1990.
