On Roald Dahl and Writing for Children

Have you followed the discussions since Puffin announced they would be rewriting some of Roald Dahl’s original content before publishing new editions of his books? There are plenty of knee-jerk reactions regarding “wokeism” and “censorship,” but this topic deserves serious thought.

I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a child, but I don’t believe I ever read any other Dahl books. Maybe I didn’t like them. Maybe I never knew there were others. As far as I remember, I liked it okay, but I liked the movie better. (I was ten when the movie was released and smitten with Gene Wilder.)

Just a few years ago, I picked up Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator and I couldn’t read more than a few pages. It felt dated, it wasn’t funny, and the depictions of ethnic stereotypes sounded mean. 

So, should Dahl’s book be rewritten for today’s reader or left in out-of-print limbo? Some authors are adamant that original content should never be rewritten. Some librarians are all for rewriting so they can get controversial books on the shelves for children to read. 

Some parents worry their children will be influenced by such books. If And Tango Makes Three normalizes homosexuality and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator normalizes xenophobia, should they both be kept from children? Book censorship seems unproductive anyway since I suspect that the written word is way down on the list of what influences children, far below what they watch on digital screens. 

Who decides what is appropriate for children to read? Parents might be the best guides and gatekeepers, but they can’t control everything. When I was a kid, I found plenty of sources for reading books that may not have been appropriate and there was nothing like the internet back then. It’s got to be much easier for kids to find inappropriate reading material these days. If they actually want to read, that is. 

Isn’t this still the violent video game discussion? I couldn’t remember what we as a society finally decided about that, but a quick perusal of various studies on the subject doesn’t show a firm conclusion that playing violent games does or does not lead to violent behavior. Studies do suggest, however, that people prone to violent behavior also play violent video games. Is it possible that the kinds of books a child reads follows a similar pattern?

I don’t believe in any kind of book banning and I’m not certain books are that influential these days anyhow. I also don’t believe in getting in the way of any book a child wants to read. If they like it, they’ll read more and that’s the goal, right? I’m still undecided on rewriting. Is it better to reject the whole book because a portion is hurtful? Or is it okay to edit parts so the rest of it can be enjoyed?

It seems like having two versions makes sense and this is what Puffin has decided to do. Of course, one now wonders if the editing decision was a marketing ploy all along. The author, the book, the reader, the publisher – who wins in a situation like this?

Photo by Sam Lion