PC publishers ban dragon from breathing fire in children's book... because it's too dangerous

[The Straight Story]

PC publishers ban dragon from breathing fire in children's book... because it's too dangerous
18.11.07

A leading children's author was told to drop a fire-breathing dragon shown in a new book - because the publishers feared they could be sued under health and safety regulations.

It is just one of the politically correct cuts Lindsey Gardiner says she has been told to make in case youngsters act out the stories.

As well as the scene showing her dragon toasting marshmallows with his breath, illustrations of an electric cooker with one element glowing red and of a boy on a ladder have had to go.

Ms Gardiner, 36, who has written and illustrated 15 internationally successful children's books, featuring her popular characters Lola, Poppy and Max, says such editing decisions are now common.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23421694-details/PC+publishers+ban+dragon+from+breathing+fire+in+children's+book...+because+it's+too+dangerous/article.do

[babylonsister]

1. Ugh. This is getting more and more ludicrous. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Are you happy now, Imus Haters?!!!1!

:shrug:

[The Straight Story]

3. Second hand reading is dangerous

:rofl:

[Warpy]

4. No idea why you keep posting that

Remember, Imus was never censored by the government.

His sponsors got cold feet and pulled out.

[unpossibles]

12. exactly

and this is not government censorship either, it sounds like, but fear of lawsuits.

[LeftishBrit]

9. What has Imus got to do with it?

Frankly, few people in the UK have even heard of Imus. I only know about him from DU.

Children's book publishing is an area where fussing over the promotion of 'bad' behaviour or ideas has always been common. At bottom, the main reason is that parents and teachers tend to be the ones who buy the books, so publishers worry about publishing things that they parents and teachers may disapprove of.

A relative of mine tried (not very assiduously) to publish a picture-book about a girl who is at first so tiny that she can only use dolls-house furniture; is taken to see the doctor who says that she washes too much and it's making her shrink; stops washing; and grows right up into the sky. It was obviously a nonsense-story, but this did not stop the publisher rejecting it partly on the grounds that it might make children think that washing is a bad thing! This was in the 1970s. Censorship of children's books is probably not as great now as it was in the past; but according to a friend of mine who is a children's book author, publishers still tend to keep one eye out for the possible reactions of the parents, and occasionally this can reach rather ridiculous extremes. At any rate, it's nothing new!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. It's an inside joke.

You had to be there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2288388

[LeftishBrit]

15. Ah yes - sorry - actually I WAS there...

but I'd forgotten the Imus part!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

13. It's a reference to this other lame-ass saint Imus thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2288388#2289302

The mods locked it down.

[Junkdrawer]

16. Ho ho ho. n/t

[fenriswolf]

5. about censorship

i read a sci fi short story about this class that wanted to perform hamlet, it started out alright, but as the story goes on the teacher keeps making cuts because of complaints from various industries, individuals and corporations so much so that a fabric maker complains of the scene where hamlet kills palonius because he killed him behind the curtain. at the end the play was two minutes long. kinda scary

[The Straight Story]

7. Well, if Christmas can make kids convert in schools, dragons can make them burn themselves

:rofl:

Keep dragons out of schools (they are of the devil anyway ya know....)

[alarimer]

6. Are they not aware that dragons ARE NOT REAL?

There is no possible way anyone could be hurt by a dragon because they do not exist.

I think my head just exploded.

[fenriswolf]

11. think its more about the violence

seeing dragons breathing fire might want make kids play with fire

*eyeroll

[ElboRuum]

18. Forget that...

Are they not aware that THEY are not dragons, and thus cannot breathe fire?

[MindPilot]

8. Can you imagine the censorship hell which today would rain down upon

the Three Stooges?


Or Tom & Jerry? Or Wil E. Coyote & the Roadrunner?

[WinkyDink]

14. These clearly are not people who have any understanding whatsoever of the true

meaning and purpose of children's books (e.g., to "confront and conquer").

[ElboRuum]

17. I'm very curious...

What sort of lives to these kids lead where they've never toasted a marshmallow, visited the kitchen while dinner is being made, and no one they've ever known has climbed a ladder? I mean, don't you have to go up what amounts to a ladder to ascend to the top of a sliding board? I suppose they don't mow the lawn in those neighborhoods, or when lawn mowing is going on, there is a "child influence panic room" where nervous, litigious parents throw their children.

I'm also wondering how stupid a child needs to be to not know that he can't breathe fire.

[Snarkturian Clone]

19. I guess Humpety Dumpety is out too...

you don't want kids acting that one out. Or Hansel & Gretel. I'm sure one can list many many violent stories from youth.

What a crock of bullshit. I've been planning a children's book about aliens with Greys in it-- is that too scary?

How long before we all wear grey jumpsuits and sneakers and drive the same grey car?

[eppur_se_muova]

20. Mommas don't let your kids grow up to be fire-breathers ...