Roald Dahl's Books Censored, words removed: mothers and fathers, ugly, fat and more

Yes you read my blog post title right. Earlier this year "Go get your mothers and fathers" was changed in Roald Dahl's books to "Go get your parents." There is no way to sugar coat the recent censorship of Roald Dahl's children's books. His books have delighted readers worldwide with sales of 300,000,000 books. Titles include "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Matilda", "James and the Giant Peach" and "The Witches." I have two co-authored books published and it is outrageous to imagine future generations going through my books and making hundreds of changes. We authors put a lot of work into each word and thought in our books. When Dahl wrote "Rudyard Kipling" in one of his children's books, that is meaningful. It is doubly outrageous to do that after an author's death.

 

Puffin Books, his publisher, have called in sensitivity readers, i.e. a cute/sly way of saying censors. Thank goodness many public figures including Salman Rushdie and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are speaking out against the censorship. I read Netflix bought the rights to his books so they are involved in this

This year the publishers made hundreds of censorship changes in Dahl's books, including removing "mothers and fathers" and changing that to "parents", and to describe Augustus Gloop the censors removed the word "fat" and changed it to "enormous."  "Cloud-men" was changed to "Cloud-people" and to describe witches "Old hags" changed to "Old crows".  A mention of Rudyard Kipling was removed and John Steinbeck substituted. What! Thus far the changes are only in the English language versions, the French publisher says they have no plans to make those changes. They did not say they never will, but at least they have no plans to do so.

Salman Rushdie tweeted "Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed." PM Sunak spoke against the Dahl censorship and said "It is important to preserve works of fiction and to not air brush them."

I imagine that people who approve of this censorship would want all of these offending words removed from ALL children's books, no point in just censoring one author. Replacing Rudyard Kipling with John Steinbeck is tampering with what Dahl wrote and is literary vandalism. I am a librarian, published author and freedom lover so this topic is dear to me. What think ye? 

In sum, keep your hands off my words! And all author's words. 

Journey to Heal by Wei Wei

 

My friend, Wei Wei, has published a beautiful book, with photographs of nature taken by her, and words to accompany each photo.

Wei's words and photos in "Journey To Heal" are glimpses of beauty and her book is a delight to read. Her photos celebrate calm moments in nature and she has a gift for poetic words. The story in it has sadness caused by the death of her father, yet the book's words and photos reflect a deep joyfulness and healing. 

I like how the photos she chose often have a bit of mist or fog, ocean spray or clouds. Here is a sample of Wei's words: Take me, take me, to the other side of the mountain ... Take me, take me, to the other side of the cloudy sky.

Wei's book is available on Amazon and at her publisher as an ebook, paperback and hardcover. Here is a link to Wei's publisher: Friesen Press

This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance, book I enjoyed

I found this book by serendipity recently and was very pleased to read it. I love books with senior citizen main characters, in this one Harriet is seventy eight.
Here is my review:

Harriet Chance is a lady I cared about; 78 years old, recent widow, difficult relationships with her son and daughter, and a rather brave gal. There is plenty of humor in this book, and Harriet faces difficult times after the death of her husband a year earlier. She did not have an easy life, starting when she was a baby. The novel moves between Harriet at different ages in an easy to follow way. Will Harriet go on the cruise, deal with some shocking and unpleasant news about her husband, smooth out her rocky relationships with her adult children, be able to keep her home? And what about her dead husband who keeps reappearing and chats with her? I recommend this book with its light hearted yet serious look at aging and its main character, Harriet.

Today it is only $1.20 on Amazon for the Kindle and $9.00 for the paperback. Be alerted that though there is humor here, there are dark things happening. Not everything gets resolved in a pretty happy ending. I don't want to give away any plot turns or the ending so will say no more.

Evison also wrote "The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving" which is now a movie "The Fundamentals of Caring." Again, many dark things in that book and movie but I aim to read the Caregiving book and see the movie.Update: on April 17 Evison's "The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving" was $1.20 as a Kindle, so I bought it.

Great book about rescued animals "Misfits of Love"

"Misfits of Love: Healing Conversations in the Barnyard" written and illustrated by our fellow blogger, Katherine Dunn.

I wildly admire the author and artist’s talent with words and paint brush as she captures the personalities of her rescued misfit animals. Her farm is brimming with mostly older animals including goats, pigs, dogs, cats, a goose, donkeys and more that she and her husband rescued and created a forever home for them on their farm.

Dunn’s paintings/sketches of her misfits show kindness in the eyes of her subjects and often wisdom. How does she capture that kindness in the eyes and in the tilt of the head? Dunn takes some of her most perceptive misfits to visit people in retirement homes and hurting people visit them at the farm too. One of the misfits is an older donkey named Matilda who has discovered that her inner calling in her own retirement years is to give love, often by standing still as people approach her, pet her and lean gently on her. Rosie the Grumpy Pig and Pino the Healer are more members of her animal family. Dunn’s words and paintings will make you smile, feel wistful and realize that death is part of the cycle of life. I think every thoughtful animal lover will treasure this book and proceeds from book sales go for food and other costs for her Misfits. For more information I enjoy reading Dunn's blog  Apifera Farm which Katherine keeps up to date.

A Favorite Book, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper

It is only a few days in to 2017 and I am sure The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick will be on my favorite novels of the year list. Arthur is lonely and depressed after the death of his wife when he discovers a gold charm bracelet of hers which he did not give her and had not seen before. He gains a new passion for life as he searches through the help of the charms to find out more about his wife’s early life, and begins with a phone number which leads him to a man in India. He has an encounter with a huge tiger roaming on a rundown British estate, and I laughed out loud at the comic danger Arthur was in. He makes friends far and wide on his quest, from his nearby neighbor Bernadette to a woman who owns a dress shop in Paris. This is very upbeat, fulfilling and hopeful, and a needed antidote to hard times  at my home.
I am joining Rose City Reader for her Book Beginnings on Fridays posts.
Here is the beginning of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper:
"The Surprise in the Wardrobe." (Chapter one). Each day Arthur got out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m. just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. " Skipping ahead a few sentences, his kind neighbor brought him food, which he did not appreciate. The book continues "Last week he had found a sausage roll in his hallway, peeking out of its paper bag like a frightened animal."