Roald Dahl's Books Stripped of Words Like Fat, Ugly

Adults who revisit Roald Dahl's fictional worlds will now find them a tad bit changed from decades past. With its new editions, publisher Puffin, a division of Penguin Random House, has rewritten some of Dahl's children's books to remove what it sees as offensive language, reports the Guardian and Vanity Fair. The words "fat," "ugly," and "crazy" no longer appear, nor do "black" and "white" as descriptors. The previously "fat" Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now described as "enormous," while The BFG's characters no longer turn "white with fear." Elsewhere, including in descriptions of the Oompa Loompas, "people" replaces what was once "men."

Similarly, "female" is now "woman" and "mothers and fathers" are now "parents." There's also added context not penned by Dahl. For instance, after a line describing the baldness of the witches in The Witches comes this line: "There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that." Though some Twitter users have described the changes as "woke" and "stupid," per the Los Angeles Times—author Salman Rushdie, in particular, calls it "absurd censorship"—the Roald Dahl Story Company says the goal was "to ensure that Roald Dahl's wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today."

It adds the hundreds of changes, hardly unusual for a new print run, were "carefully considered" and "small both in terms of actual edits which have been made and also in terms of the overall percentage of texts which has been changed" so that "the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text" are maintained. The company and publisher worked on the changes with Inclusive Minds, a collective focused on inclusion, diversity, equality, and accessibility in children's literature. Its cofounder, Alexandra Strick, says it works with "those who have lived experience of any facet of diversity" to "ensure authentic representation." (More Roald Dahl stories.)