Beatrix Potter’s silence concerning her sources means the Brer Rabbit folktales that helped create her stories are passed over without acknowledgement or celebration.
Roald Dahl in 1954.
Carl Van Vechten/Wikimedia Commons.
Children’s books implicitly shape the minds of young readers - and are covertly censored in many ways. But revising occasional words will usually not shift the values regarded as outdated in the text.
A new version of Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree is coming soon.
Paul Webb/Alamy
Anguished cries of ‘cancel culture’ rang out with news that six Dr Seuss books would be shelved. But canceling Dr Seuss is not possible, nor is it the best way to build diversity and understanding.
The new first form at Malory Towers is more diverse than Blyton’s original.
BBC/WildBrain/Queen Bert Limited/John Medland