Publishers, heed Edward Champion’s demand that we “Stop bowdlerising books for kids“! (British spelling because it’s in the Guardian’s theblogbooks.)
Perhaps this new emphasis on books-as-manuals is why today’s children’s book publishers have been more gutless when reissuing their backlist titles. Presumably motivated by the fear of “corrupting” young minds and offending readers, publishers have edited and elided passages and pictures with a politically correct zeal resembling Soviet agitprop.
Great links to the new and old versions of Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, too.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
[…] I’m not in favor of treating childhood sentimentally–or treating kid lit like instruction manuals, for that matter–but I’m inclined to agree with Hogan that perhaps the NYTBR isn’t making the best use of Itzkoff’s talents. […]