Several popular children’s books by Wales-born author Roald Dahl are set to be edited and republished to avoid words that might be offensive for a few readers. This revision takes place to make the literature more inclusive in terms of age, gender, race, weight, mental issues, violence, etc.

The Roald Dahl Story Company (bought by Netflix in 2021) acknowledged that it started reviewing the books in 2020 along with Puffin, the publishers after the Dahl family apologized for the author’s antisemitic remarks. The changes implemented are “small and carefully considered,” the company said.

A spokesperson from the Roald Dahl Story Company is reported to have remarked, “We want to ensure that Roald Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today.” The changes are a part of usual revisions in addition to the page layout and book cover,” he added.

According to the Guardian, Dahl’s children’s books (not his adult works) underwent over 100 edits, ranging from minor word changes to complete couplet rewrites, by sensitivity readers, a group of individuals who are “passionate about inclusion and accessibility in children’s literature.”

Dahl’s children’s books (not his adult works) underwent over 100 edits, ranging from minor word changes to complete couplet rewrites

Owing to the changes, the word “fat” has supposedly been removed from all of the books, and Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now called “enormous”. Also, the following lines in James and the Giant Peach “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” and “Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier” has been changed to “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit,” and, “Aunt Spiker was much of the same / And deserves half of the blame.”

Dahl has been criticized for his misogynistic writings that have an inferior representation of women. Hence, many revisions have been made in his books to amend this.

For example, the Cloud-Men from James and the Giant Peach are now called Cloud-People. Similarly, Mrs Twit’s ‘fearful ugliness’ has now been rewritten as ‘ugliness’ and Mrs Hoppy in Esio Trot is not an ‘attractive middle-aged lady’ but a ‘kind middle-aged lady’.

Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, who was described as the ‘most formidable female’ is now the ‘most formidable woman’. And she no longer has a ‘great horsey face’.

Dahl’s comments on race and ethnicity were highly problematic and his publishers are now trying to make up for it. Oompa-Loompas of the Charlie and Chocolate Factory who earlier were ‘small men’ from the African Pygmy tribes have now been changed to ‘small people’.

However, several authors, politicians, and parents have called these revisions a ‘ridiculous’ step. Owing to these disagreements, Penguin publishers have decided to keep the unedited version in their Classic collections.

Dahl fans would be able to purchase both the original and the revised versions, as they prefer. Meanwhile, Puffin publishers emphasize that books written hundreds of years ago but are enjoyed till date should regularly be reviewed for the language so that it can be “enjoyed by all today”.